


Skating Wars: A New Hope

by Junliet



Series: Skating Wars [1]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Angst, Death, Gen, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Mostly happy anyway, Star Wars AU, war mentions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2020-05-16 17:32:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 35,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19322848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Junliet/pseuds/Junliet
Summary: It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the Death Star, an armoured space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet. Pursued by the Empire’s sinister agents, Prince Yuzuru races home aboard his star ship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save his people and restore freedom to the galaxy…





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mybigfatcat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mybigfatcat/gifts).



> Hi everyone! So, I said I wouldn't start any new wips until I was done with my other big story, yet here we are. Well, whatever, I'm taking a short (?) break from that one so have this instead! This would never have been written without the one, the only, the amazing mybigfatcat so thank you thank you thank you for all your help; I hope you like this!
> 
> Character list (relevant to this story. I won't be spoiling anything big just yet, but you probably know most of the twists in Star Wars anyway):  
> Luke Skywalker: Keiji Tanaka  
> Han Solo: Javier Fernandez  
> Leia Organa: Yuzuru Hanyu  
> C3PO: Miki Ando  
> R2D2: Shoma Uno  
> General Tarkin: Rafael Arutyunyan  
> Obi Wan Kenobi: Brian Orser
> 
> Please enjoy!

_It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire’s ultimate weapon, the Death Star, an armoured space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet. Pursued by the Empire’s sinister agents, Prince Yuzuru races home aboard his star ship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save his people and restore freedom to the galaxy…_

* * *

 

Above a huge, sandy planet, a red and white spaceship, designed like the universal diplomat ships, sped through the vacuum of space. Green lasers flew after the ship, colliding with parts of the armour. The green lasers came from a ship, hundreds of times larger than the diplomatic ship, close behind on their tail and gaining on them. Inside the diplomatic ship, a gold humanoid droid and a small blue and white droid made their way through the white hallways of the ship, and the gold droid looked around in as much panic as a droid could exhibit as the ship around them shook.

“Did you hear that Sho-2? They’ve shut down the main reactor. We’ll be destroyed for sure!” a feminine voice let out in a near hysterical mess.

The smaller droid beeped at the other, and the gold one shook her head. “This is madness.”

Around them, dozens of men and women in brown trousers, grey shirts, and white hats. Each held a blaster firmly, and they trained them on the door, getting into position and focusing.

“We’re doomed.” The gold droid said with a shake of the head. The smaller droid beeped at him again and the gold one continued. “There’ll be no escape for the prince this time.”

A clanging from above them drew everyone’s attention; all the rebel soldiers and the droids within the ship looked up. The sounds got louder, and one of the ladies swallowed as she heard the inner workings of a ship above them.  The much larger ship was drawing in the diplomatic ship using a tractor beam, pulling it into the opening in the underside of the larger. Focusing, the rebels in the hallway held firm as they trained their guns back on the door. Some of their fingers trembled against the triggers of their blasters as they heard the sound of metal on metal, and sparks filled the doorway as the metal door was blasted open.

The opening exploded and in poured hundreds of soldiers wearing full white armour. Red lasers filled the hallway, striking down rebels and soldiers alike, and smoke from the explosion dissipated through the hallway. Soldiers came in endlessly as the rebels ran down the hallway and retreated further into the ship. The pair of droids hid themselves in some of the inner workings of the ship, away from the main hallway so that they didn’t get hit by the lasers and, as the last few rebels ran further into the ship, the remaining white soldiers lowered their weapons as a mechanical ventilating noise filled the hallway.

A figure in full black armour, including a mask covering their face, stepped into the hallway and surveyed the damage and the bodies of soldiers and rebels alike. Followed by the guards, they continued down the hallway, searching out more people.

“Help me, Orser-san,” a soft, relatively high masculine voice whispered, the owner hiding behind metallic structures out of the direct sight of the main hallway, “you’re my only hope.”

A hand slipped a thin disk into one of the slots on the smaller droid’s front, loose white sleeve falling back to reveal several black beaded bracelets.

“Sho-2 D-2, where are you?” The gold droid snapped, stumbling through the more hidden sections of the ship.

Hidden in the smoke and shadows, just along from there, a figure in white finished slotting things into the small droid and hid back behind one of the metallic walls. Sho-2 turned to the golden droid and rolled towards it, earning a tut.

“Where on earth have you been? I’ve been looking for you everywhere! They’re heading in this direction. What are we going to do? We’ll be sent to the spice mines of Kessel, or smashed into who knows what?”

The smaller droid didn’t listen; instead Sho-2 headed towards the escape pods.

“Wait a minute, where are you going?”

The figure in white lowered his hood, watching the two droids as they went away from him. He moved some of his dark hair out of his eyes and took a long, deep breath as he pressed himself back into the shadows and smoke against the metal hiding his slim frame and the white clothes that helped him blend in with the smoke turning the room hazy.

The remaining alive rebels were marched down the hallways with their hands firmly above their heads, flanked on all sides by the armed guards and soldiers in white. They were herded into the control room where the other rebels were held. The figure in black held the main leader by the throat in silence as one of the soldiers spoke to him, voice also robotic.

“The Death Star plans are not in the main computer.”

The figure in black squeezed the neck of the man in front of him tighter. “Where are those transmissions you intercepted?” a robotic voice asked, the cold exterior of the mask matching the voice, “What have you done with those plans?”

“We… we intercepted no transmissions!” the captain choked out as he was lifted higher by his throat, straining to keep his feet on the ground. “This is a councillor’s ship! W-we… We’re on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan.”

The figure in black held the other fully off the ground mercilessly. “If this is a councillor’s ship, then where is the ambassador?”

The captain went limp in his hand, and the man in black tossed the body across the room in disgust. He turned to one of the soldiers in white, tone harsh and cruel. “Commander, tear this ship apart until you’ve found those plans, and bring me the passengers! I want them alive!”

The soldiers in white dispersed throughout the ship, searching high and low for any other living passengers. The young man with soft, dark hair from before dared to poke his head out from behind the sheet of metal that was his protection, gun raised. His eyes narrowed when one of the soldiers spotted him.

“There’s one. Set your weapon for—”

The man shot first, red laser hitting the solider firmly and, as he collapsed, he took the chance and made a run for it. One of the others shot him with a blue laser and he collapsed, crumpling in a heap not far from where he’d been hiding initially. The soldiers surrounded his limp form and checked him over quickly.

“He’ll be alright. He’ll wake up soon. Inform Lord Vader we have a prisoner.”

By the escape pods, the pair of droids slipped unnoticed past the soldiers as they fussed over the discovery of the new prisoner. Sho-2 approached one of the pods, much to the disgust of the other droid.

“Hey! You’re not permitted in there! You’ll be deactivated for sure!”

Sho-2 opened the door up and responded with a series of beeps. “Don’t you call me a mindless philosopher you short blob of grease. Now come along before someone sees you.”

The other droid beeped more firmly and the gold droid shook its head. “What secret mission? What plans? What are you talking about? I’m not getting in there—”

The droid was cut off by an explosion caused by lasers right next to it. Bending down and climbing into the pod, the golden droid muttered “I’m going to regret this,” before the door shut and the escape pod launched away from the main ship and into the vastness of space.

“There goes another one,” one of the two men in the control tower of the larger ships narrowed his eyes at the escape pod as it got caught in the planet’s gravity and pulled it towards the sandy planet.

“Hold your fire. There are no life forms. No point wasting resources blowing something up that probably malfunctioned and short circuited.”

“Funny,” the gold droid watched the ships getting smaller and smaller in their window. “The damage doesn’t look so bad from out here.” With a sudden thought, it turned to Sho-2. “Are you sure this thing is safe?”

Having come to again on the ship, a collection of eight armed soldiers surrounded the handcuffed prisoner as they marched him down the hallways of the ship. There, midway along, was Lord Vader, standing tall and imposing in the rigid black armour that sharply contrasted the stark white interior of the diplomat’s ship and the prisoner’s flowing white attire. Still, the prisoner didn’t flinch as he met the cold, unyielding eyes of the mask that hid every emotion from him. The soldiers brought him to a stop before their leader, pulling sharply on his shoulder to turn him towards Vader.

“Darth Vader,” the prisoner wrinkled his nose and his tone was cold and tinted with disgust, “only you would be so bold. The Imperial Senate will not settle for this. When they hear that you’ve attacked a diplomatic—”

“Don’t act so surprised, Your Highness, you weren’t on any mercy mission this time.” The prince didn’t crack under the words and instead kept his head held high as he was cut off. The other leaned closer to him, towering over the prince in his imposing armour. “Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by rebel spies. I want to know what happened to the plans they sent you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Yuzuru shook his head, narrowing his eyes as he kept holding eye contact with the mask to maintain some level of control and dignity, even in his situation. “I’m a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan.”

“You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor. I’m sick of your lies. Take him away! Hold him in one of the rooms until we get to the base and then lock him in a cell.”

Yuzuru his eyes widened with an emotion that vanished too fast for Vader to read it, and he stumbled as he was shoved forwards by the soldiers, yet he still kept his head held high as he was forced down the hallway and out of sight. A general stepped out to join Vader, and he raised an eyebrow at the prince’s form disappearing behind one of the sliding doors.

“Holding him is dangerous. What if this gets out? It could generate sympathy for the rebellion in the Senate. People like him there because he’s young, beautiful, and is a good diplomat.”

“I have traced the rebel spies to him,” Vader said, “now he is my only link to finding their secret base.”

“He’ll die before he tells you anything.”

“Leave that to me.” The general could almost hear the smirk in his voice behind the mask. “Send a distress signal, and then inform the Senate that all aboard the ship were killed.”

“Lord Vader,” both men stopped and the one without a mask frowned at the commander in front of him, “the battle station plans are not aboard this ship and no transmissions were made. An escape pod was released during the fighting and no life forms were detected aboard.”

“He must have hidden the plans in the escape pod. Send a detachment down to retrieve them. See to it personally, Commander. There will be no one to stop us this time.”

“Yes sir,” the other bowed to the lord before the pair parted.

The larger ship, after a smaller ship left through the gap in which Yuzuru’s ship had been pulled in, moved away from the planet and towards the vastness of space in their galaxy once again. The smaller ship headed down towards the sandy planet as the larger took off into hyperspace, going faster than light speed.

* * *

 

Leaving the escape pod, the two droids made their way across seemingly endless sandy dunes. The gold one looked around them, taking in the overwhelming emptiness.

“How did we get into this mess? I don’t know.”

Sho-2 beeped in response as the sand blew across the desert, hitting them and scratching at their once shiny metal coats.

“We seem to be made to suffer. It’s our lot in life,” the gold one continued, glancing at the other for a moment before they took a look around the endless dunes again. “We’ve got to rest. I’ve got to rest before I fall apart. My joints have gone all stiff. It’s alright for you.”

Sho-2 beeped at the golden one, almost seeming frustrated, but the other ignored him and stopped atop a dune. “What a desolate place this is.”

Sho-2 beeped again, more insistent, before it set off away from the other.

“Where do you think you’re going? I’m not going that way. It’s much too rocky. This way is much easier.”

Little beeps and blips were the response given, and the gold droid shook its head. “What makes you think there are settlements over there?”

Sho-2 responded and the gold one huffed. “Don’t get technical with me. What mission? What are you talking about?”

With more beeps in response, the humanoid droid snapped. “I’ve just about had enough of you, Sho-2. Go that way. See if I care. You’ll be malfunctioning within a day you misguided, near sighted scrap pile. And don’t come begging me for help, because you won’t get it!”

Sho-2 beeped after the retreating form, earning only the droid’s version of a glare. “No more adventures! I’m not going that way!”

Sho-2 set off towards the rocks, beeping to itself, as the other droid walked more into the vast, empty dunes. The gold droid glanced back, looking for a glimpse of Sho-2 on the horizon but there was nothing. The area was empty save for the skeleton of a reptile long deceased next to the droid on the sand.

“That malfunctioning little twerp. This is all his fault. He tricked me into going this way, but he’ll do no better.”

Just as the droid turned to continue walking along the empty dunes, a flashing light on the horizon caught its attention. They perked up, waving their metal arms wildly.

“A transport! I’m saved! Over here! Help! Please help!”

* * *

 

As the sun started to lower in the sky, Sho-2 made his way through the rocky areas of the planet, through pathways cut into the stone through decades of use and natural shaping from sandstorms. The small droid paused as several loose stones fell around him from empty paths, falling in front of him. With little, hesitant beeps, Sho-2 scanned the area around him before he continued on. The low light cast long shadows into the rocky valley, half hiding Sho-2 in shadows as he stuck close to the lower rocks.

A cloaked figure in brown jumped up in front of the small droid and, with a shriek, shot him with a blue electric shock. The little droid let out a shrieking beep as the electricity messed with the circuits, and smoke filled the area. Sho-2 let out a series of frantic beeps before it stopped and fell forwards, effectively shut down and unable to function; the blue shock had immobilised him temporarily.

Swarms and swarms of the creatures clad in brown emerged from the shadows, and a group of them picked up the helpless droid. Carrying it back to their huge transport, they dumped the little droid in the corner of a room filled with loose metal scraps and other droids scratched up and dirtied by the harsh environment.  They welded a small bolt onto one of the sections of the droid’s front before they climbed into the main section and out of the droid area.

Sho-2 turned back on after the effects of the blue electricity had worn off and looked around the area, beeping almost in confusion as the other droids around him perked up too. The small droid made his way around the room of metal, taking in the multitude of other droids around him. Another unit similar to him, an R2 unit, beeped at him back, and other droids started walking and moving around as the Sho-2 unit did.

“Sho-2?” The small droid beeped in surprise when he saw the golden one with a similar bolt attached to its front tucked away in another corner of the room full of metal. As the transport around them shook and started to move, the golden droid shakily placed a metal hand on the other droid’s top. “Sho-2 D-2, it is you! It is you! Oh, thank goodness. I was so worried about you!”

The armoured transport, underneath the sky full of stars as the light died, made their way through the rocky terrain and towards the glowing lights of the moisture farms on the other side of the ridge, jolting and jostling the droids inside as they passed over the rough terrain.

* * *

 

A group of white soldiers, led by the Commander and orders from Lord Vader, scoured the area of the desert around the empty escape pod in the harsh, bright light of day. Several soldiers, using binoculars, tried to spot anything in the distance that could give them more of a clue, and others stood guard with their weapons raised and ready as the final set searched in and around the pod.

“Tracks lead this way. Someone or something must have been in the pod. There’s no sign of the plans inside the pod Sir.” The robotic, distorted voice of one of the troopers in the white rigid armour cut through the harsh silence of the wide desert.

“Well, we need to follow them, who or whatever they are.” The Commander ordered, setting off after the tracks.

The group nodded, following the Commander across the dunes as the wind picked up, battering their normally shiny white armour with a small sandstorm. Like sandpaper, within minutes their normally smooth and shiny uniform and armour was roughed up and beaten by the weather.

“Look sir,” one of them held up a small, metal ring, dusting the sand off it. The harsh sunlight hit it, projecting small rainbows onto the soldiers’ white uniforms. The Commander and another looked at it, frowning as they studied the ring. “Droids. Droids were in the escape pod it would seem.”

“Follow the tracks! There we’ll find out where the plans have gone. The prince must have hidden the plans in a droid. Inform the squads about the lead, and follow them on after the tracks to find the droids. Lord Vader and the others will soon be able to get either the appearance of the droids out of him or the location of the rebel base. Neither will stay hidden for long; he’s got to break at some point.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We’ve stopped.” The golden droid listened as the sounds of the transport’s engines died down to leave an almost eerie silence. The other droids around him started bursting back into life once again, turning on and moving around the droid room as if restrained and sluggish. The gold droid hit a metal hand onto the top of Sho-2, who still hadn’t burst into life. “Wake up. Wake up!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to update this yesterday but kind of forgot whoops I'm sorry. ANYWAY please have it now! Sorry again it wasn't up yesterday. Please enjoy this chapter. It follows our main character who we finally get to meet. Big thank you once again to mybigfatcat, and please everyone enjoy this chapter; I'll try and have the next one up soon xx

“We’ve stopped.” The golden droid listened as the sounds of the transport’s engines died down to leave an almost eerie silence. The other droids around him started bursting back into life once again, turning on and moving around the droid room as if restrained and sluggish. The gold droid hit a metal hand onto the top of Sho-2, who still hadn’t burst into life. “Wake up. Wake up!”

The small droid beeped almost grumpily, as if irritated that it had been woken up from a low power mode that resembled sleep for it. The small droid looked around with its blue and red lights, taking in the other droids moving about the area around them. A group of the small cloaked creatures spilt into the area and studied all of the droids carefully. The pointed at a few around Sho-2, including an R2 unit, very similar to Sho-2, and then they picked both Sho-2 and the golden one. They hauled the pair out of the piles of metal they’d fallen into during the jostling and movement of the vehicle during the night, and dragged them out to in front of the rusting, weathered vehicle.

Across from the vehicle were several igloos made out of tent style fabric that led into houses and homes built into the sand to keep them cooler lower down. An older man, wrapped in loose white robes, left one of them, followed by a young man with black curls that were parted in the centre and fell neatly across his forehead. He adjusted the shoulders of his own flowing white robes tied at the waist before he stretched out his legs clad in white trousers too that reflected the sunlight.

“Keiji!” His head turned and he ran to look over one of the holes in the sand that overlooked a section of the living area of their moisture farm. With a soft smile, a woman with gentle features and similar pale, light clothing to the others looked up at him. “Keiji, if your uncle gets a translator, make sure it speaks Bocce!”

“Doesn’t look like we have much of a choice, but I’ll remind him,” Keiji returned with a little chuckle and a soft smile before he ran back over to meet the other man. He was busy being shown the droids that had been lined up by the jawas.

“Yeah, we’ll take that red one. We need an R2 unit or a Sho-2 unit. No, not that one. If we’re taking the R2 we don’t need the Sho-2 as well,” the man waved his hands at the droids and stopped before the golden humanoid one, scrutinising it. “Well then, I suppose you’re programmed for protocol and etiquette, then aren’t you?”

“Protocol? Why, it’s my primary function sir. You see, I am well versed in all the customs—”

“I have no need for a protocol droid.”

“Of course you don’t sir. Not in an environment such as this. That is why I have been programmed—”

“What I really need is a droid who can understand the binary language of moisture vaporators.”

“Vaporators? Sir, my first job was programming binary load lifters, very similar to your vaporators in most respects.”

“Do you speak Bocce?”

“Of course I can sir. It’s like a second language to me. I—”

“Alright, shut up,” the older man cut off the droid and turned to the cloaked creature next to him. “I’ll take this one. And that red R2 unit. Keiji, get these two droids to the garage to get them cleaned up before dinner and ready for tomorrow.”

“Uncle Owen! I was going to go to the Tosche station to pick up some power convertors!”

“You can mess around and waste time with your friends when your chores are done. The sooner you do it, the sooner it’ll be over. Come on. Clean them up. Get to it Keiji”

Keiji rolled his eyes but he nodded, frowning at the droids. “Come on then. And the red one. Come on.”

He set off towards the entrance to the fabric igloo, humming a little to himself as the golden droid shuffled forwards. It glanced back at the Sho-2 unit, wiggling forwards across the sand as it tried to follow before one of the cloaked creatures popped up with a remote and pressed a button, activating the retraining bolt and stopping the small droid in its tracks.

Keiji stepped down into the moisture farm entrance when he heard a bang behind him. Whipping around reflexively, he saw smoke billowing out of the top of the red droid’s head. He glanced at it, wrinkling his nose.

“Uncle Owen! This droid has a bad motivator, look!” Keiji gestured to the smoke coming out thick and fast from the top of the red and white droid. His uncle glared at the jawa next to him.

“What are you trying to push on us? You think we’re idiots or something?”

The jawa defended itself in its native language as the golden droid touched a hand to Keiji’s shoulder. “Excuse me sir, but that Sho-2 unit is in prime condition. It’s a real bargain.”

Keiji rolled his eyes but nodded none the less. “Uncle Owen!”

“What?”

“What about the Sho-2 unit? It’s not that different and it’ll do the same job just as well.”

“What about that blue one?” The uncle turned to the jawa and gestured to the droid that he wanted. “We’ll take that one.”

“You’ll be pleased with that one sir,” the gold droid tried to sell it further, somewhat smug as the red and white droid was moved away from them, still smoking, and Sho-2 was allowed to roll away from the jawas and towards the pair. “He really is in first class condition. I’ve worked with him before. He won’t let you down.”

“Alright,” Keiji sighed before he gestured into the moisture farm, “come on then. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“Now don’t you forget this,” the golden one hissed to the Sho-2 unit, “why I should stick my neck out for you is quite beyond my capacity.”

Down and down the droids were led, through tunnels that were kept cool and away from the harsh duel suns of the planet for moisture farmers to seek brief respite from the temperature in. They slipped across the main central area of the farm, where Keiji’s aunt had been in when he’d spoken to her, before they crossed over the space and down a small et of steps into a dimly lit room. Keiji moved the golden one onto a panel and pressed a button on the side of the equipment.

“Thank the maker,” the golden droid sighed out as it was lowered down into oil. “This oil bath is going to feel so good. I’ve got such a bad case of dust contamination I can barely move.”

Keiji idly touched the edge of his model ship before he sighed, shaking his head and glaring at the wall. “Oh, who am I kidding. Biggs is right; I’m never going to get out of here. I’m going to end up being a stupid moisture farmer for the rest of my life.”

He scooped up a tool from the metal tray at the side of the room and knelt down in front of Sho-2, tucked away in the corner, as the gold droid watched them both.

“If I may ask, sir, is there anything that I could do to help?”

“Nah,” Keiji shook his head, cleaning some of Sho-2’s exterior. “Not unless you can alter time and speed up the harvest, or teleport me off this damn rock.”

“I don’t think so sir. I’m only an interpreter and not very knowledgeable about such things. Not on this planet anyway. In fact, I don’t even know which planet we’re on.”

“Well,” Keiji grimaced as he caught his finger with the edge of the blade; the tool slipped as he tried to get something out that was jammed in one of Sho-2’s slits. “If there’s a bright centre to the universe, you’re on the planet that it’s furthest from.”

“I see sir.”

Keiji chuckled to himself and shook his head. “You can call me Keiji.”

“I see sir Keiji.”

The young man snorted, still shaking his head as he picked up a cloth to clean Sho-2’s front with. “It’s just Keiji.”

“Oh. I am Miki-3PO, human cyborg relations. And this is my counterpart: Sho-2 D2.”

The smaller droid beeped and Keiji waved lightly with a soft sigh. “Hello. You’ve got a lot of carbon scoring here; it looks like you two have seen a lot of action.”

“Honestly sir, with all we’ve been through sometimes I’m amazing we’re in as good condition as we are. What, with the rebellion, and all.”

“You know of the rebellion against the Empire?” Keiji stood up, looking at Miki directly with a mixture of awe and shock on his face.

“That’s how we came to be in your service, if you take my meaning sir.”

Sho-2 beeped and Miki ignored him as Keiji spoke up.

“Have you been in many battles?” Excitement laced his every word and he looked at the golden droid with wide eyes, full of hope and wonder as he helped it out of the oil bath.

“Several, I think. Actually sir, there’s not much to tell. We did work mostly with diplomats before, and I’m only an interpreter anyway. I’m not any good at telling stories. Well, I’m not good at making them interesting anyway.”

Keiji nodded and knelt back down to go back to cleaning out Sho-2. He grimaced when his blade got stuck, and he tried wiggling it around with a frown.

“Well my little friend, looks like you’ve got something jammed in here really good. Were you guys on a star cruiser or—”

Keiji fell back and Sho-2 projected a small, blue hologram onto the floor in front of him. There, clad in loose white robes, was a slim young man with wide dark eyes and unfiltered emotions.

“Help me, Orser-san. You’re my only hope.” The figure glanced around before it went to slip something into Sho-2. The hologram cut and went back to the same point, showing the same young man with the dark eyes and desperate look written across his beautiful, elegant features. “Help me, Orser-san. You’re my only hope.”

“What’s this?” Keiji whispered, transfixed by the hologram. He watched as it cut again and again, studying the movements of the slim young man as he played over and over again.

“What is what? Sho-2. He asked you a question.” Miki chided. “What is that?”

The smaller droid beeped, playing the message still as Miki turned to Keiji. “He says it’s nothing sir. Merely a malfunction, old data, and an old message. Pay it no mind.”

Keiji stared at the recording in almost awe, watching the repeating loop of the footage before he shook himself out of his head. “Who is he? He’s beautiful.”

“I’m afraid I’m not quite sure sir,” Miki said simply as the voice of the hologram kept speaking. Keiji could have sworn that it sounded more and more desperate each time it played, like the young man was in the room begging to Keiji himself to lead him to this Orser-san. “I think he was a passenger on our last voyage, a person of some importance I believe. Our captain was attacked, and—”

“Is there anymore of this recording?” Keiji cut in, eyes still not leaving the young man projected on the garage floor in front of him.

Sho-2 beeped in answer and Keiji raised an eyebrow, glancing out of the corner of his eye at Miki to translate.

“Behave yourself Sho-2. You’re going to get us into trouble. It’s alright, you can trust him. He’s our new master.”

“Help me, Orser-san. You’re my only hope.”

Sho-2’s beeping cut off the repeating loop of speech, and Miki translated for Keiji. “Sho-2 says that he is the property of a Brian Orser, a resident of these parts, and that it is a private message for him. Quite frankly sir, I don’t know what he’s talking about. Our last master was Captain Antilles, but with all we’ve been through this little Sho-2 unit has become a bit eccentric.”

The droid beeped almost angrily at Miki as Keiji hummed, looking up at the ceiling of the garage and the peeling walls. “Brian Orser? I wonder if he means Old Bill Orser.”

“I beg your pardon sir, but do you know what he’s talking about?”

“Well,” Keiji pushed himself up to his feet, picking up the blade and cloth again as he thought and spoke, “I don’t know anyone called Brian Orser, but Old Bill Orser lives out beyond the Dune Sea. He’s kind of a strange old hermit.”

“Help me, Orser-san. You’re my only hope.”

“I wonder who he is.” Keiji frowned before he nodded to himself and headed over to Sho-2. “Sounds like he’s in trouble. I’d better play back the entire message.”

As Keiji reached for the controls on the front of the droid, Sho-2 beeped wildly at him, causing the human to step back and hold his hands up to show that he meant no harm.

“He says that the restraining bolt has short circuited his recording system.” Miki explained. “He says that if you remove the bolt, he might be able to play the entire recording.”

“Huh?” Keiji blinked at Miki before he nodded, picking up another tool off the work bench where many were carelessly strewn around. “Oh, well, I guess you’re too little to run away on me if I take this off, so, uh…”

Keiji prised off the restraining bolt, and the blue hologram vanished entirely.  

“Hey, wait a minute! Where did he go? Bring him back! Play back the entire message like you said!”

Sho-2 beeped almost innocently and Miki turned to him. “What message? The one you’ve just been playing! The one you’re carrying in your rusty innards you idiot!”

“Keiji!” His aunt called in from outside, and Keiji shook his head, handing Miki the tools.

“I’ll be right there Aunt Beru!”

“I’m sorry sir, but he appears to have picked up a slight flutter.”

“Here Miki, see what you can do with him. I’ll be right back.”

As the human left the garage, Miki turned to the other droid and hit the top of his meta body. “Just you reconsider playing him that message.”

Sho-2 beeped, tone rising at the end almost as a question.

“No, I don’t think he likes you at all.”

Sho-2 beeped again: another question.

“No. I don’t like you either.” Miki turned away from him, snapping.

* * *

 

In one of the rooms overlooking the main circular area, Keiji’s aunt and uncle ate their food in silence as the young man slid into his own seat on one side of the table.

“You know, I think that Sho-2 unit we bought might have been stolen.”

“What makes you think that?” His uncle asked, studying the younger’s face as Keiji picked up his white spoon and scooped up some of the wheat-based food.

“I stumbled across a recording while I was cleaning him. He says he belongs to someone called Brian Orser.” Keiji’s aunt and uncle exchanged a look over the top of his head as he ate his spoonful of food. “I thought he might have meant Old Bill? Do you know what he’s talking about?”

“No,” his uncle shook his head, sipping at his glass of blue milk.

“I wonder if he’s related to Bill then.”

“That wizard is just a crazy old man.” His uncle cut in, tearing Keiji’s gaze away from his plate. “And tomorrow I want you to take that Sho-2 unit to Anchor head and get its memory wiped. That’ll be the end of it. It belongs to us now.”

“But,” Keiji poured himself another glass of the milk, “what if this Brian Orser comes looking for him?”

“He won’t. I don’t think he even exists anymore. He died about the same time as your father did.”

“He knew my father?”

“I told you to forget it Keiji.” His uncle cut him off with a look, turning back to his food. “Your only concern is to prepare those new droids for tomorrow. In the morning I want them out on the South Ridge working on those condensers.”

Keiji fiddled with his food, swallowing as he pushed more of his food around his plate. “Yes sir,” he whispered, more to himself than his uncle. He then cleared his throat before he looked up. “I think those new droids are going to work out fine. In fact, I… uh… I was thinking about our agreement. About me staying on another season.”

His uncle looked up in confusion and so Keiji pressed on. “And if these new droids do work out, I want to transmit my application to the academy this year.”

“You mean the next semester before the harvest?”

“Well sure, there’s more than enough droids!”

“But harvest is when I need you the most Keiji. It’s only one season more.” Keiji sighed and looked down at his plate, shaking his head as his uncle kept talking. “This year we’ll make enough on the harvest that I’ll be able to hire some more hands, and then you can go to the academy next year. You must understand that I need you here Keiji.”

“But it’s a whole other year!”

“But it’s only one more season.”

“Yeah, that’s what you said when Biggs left,” Keiji hissed under his breath, standing up.

“Where are you going?” His aunt asked gently, looking between his face and his unfinished plate.

“I said I’m going nowhere. I have to finish cleaning up those two droids.”

His aunt watched with her wistful expression fixed on his retreating form before she sighed, shaking her head. “Owen, he can’t stay here forever. Most of his friends have gone. It means so much to him.”

“I’ll make it up to him next year. I promise. I just need him.”

She chuckled slightly. “Keiji’s just not a farmer, Owen. He has too much of his father in him.”

“I know.” Her husband’s face fell. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Outside the moisture farm, Keiji stopped by the circle overlooking the cooler section sunken into the ground. He looked up, past the endless sands of Tatooine and his planet, to the setting of the dual suns of the planet. The young man’s shoulders sagged as he was bathed in the red light of the lower one, casting long shadows around him. The light wind shifted the sands around his feet and his hair as he watched the suns set with a heavy heart.

After watching the sunset for a few more moments, allowing himself to mentally escape, he then headed back down to the garage to finish his task of cleaning the two droids. Upon not seeing either immediately, he looked around in confusion before he pulled out a remote and pressed one of the buttons. Miki let out a noise of surprise from behind one of the vehicles in the garage as the restraining bolt cut in.

“What are you doing hiding back there?”

“It wasn’t my fault sir! Please don’t deactivate me! I told him not to go, but he’s fault you see.” Keiji’s face fell as Miki babbled at him. “Malfunctioning. Kept babbling on about his mission!”

“Oh Force no,” Keiji ran out of the garage, picking up a pair of binoculars from across the messy work top.

Miki followed him out to the edge of the moisture farm, and Keiji scanned the horizon with the binoculars, turning the dials on the side to get them better in focus.

“That Sho-2 unit has always been a problem. These astrodroids are getting quite out of hand. Even I can’t understand their logic at times.”

“How can I have been so stupid? Why did I take off the restraining bolt? He’s nowhere in sight,” Keiji groaned, ready to throw the binoculars into the sand. “Blast it!”

“Pardon me sir, but couldn’t we go after him?”

“It’s too dangerous with all the Sand People around. We’ll have to wait until morning.” He rubbed at his forehead, glaring at the horizon.

“Keiji! I’m shutting the power down!” His uncle called from the farm.

“Alright, I’ll be right there, Uncle Owen!” He shook his head, glaring down at the binoculars before he turned to Miki. “Boy, am I going to get it. You know that little droid’s going to get me into a lot of trouble.”

“Oh, he excels at that sir.”

With a final look at the horizon, Keiji nodded back at the moisture farm and led Miki back inside as night fell around them and the power was shut off.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keiji’s uncle stepped out into the centre of their farm, looking up at each of the rooms adjoining to the centre circle in the courtyard. With a frown, he circled the area.
> 
> “Keiji? Keiji, where are you? Beru, have you seen Keiji this morning?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! This story is back again, yay! We meet another character here in this chapter, one that I personally have really really wanted to write in this. So yeah, finally, they're making an appearance! Be aware, there's some more graphic stuff nearer the end. It's not awful, but it's there so please be aware of that. Thank you for reading this, and once more a big big thank you to mybigfatcat for all your help xxx

Keiji’s uncle stepped out into the centre of their farm, looking up at each of the rooms adjoining to the centre circle in the courtyard. With a frown, he circled the area.

“Keiji? Keiji, where are you? Beru, have you seen Keiji this morning?”

She poked her head out of the kitchenette area, stirring their soup. “He said he had a few things to do before he started today, so he went out early.”

“Did he take those two new droids with him.”

“I think so. He’ll be back, don’t worry.”

“Well, he’d better have those units in the South Range prepared by midday, or there’ll be hell to pay.”

“Look, there’s a droid on the scanner dead ahead,” Keiji shouted over the sound of his speeder as he and Miki sped across the sands of Tatooine. “Might be our little Sho-2 unit. Hit the accelerator.”

Keiji manoeuvred the speeder through the narrow, rocky passes that led towards the Dune Sea, following the scanner to catch up with the droid. Seeing Sho-2 D2, he stopped the speeder, and both he and Miki got out to catch up with the droid on foot.

“Hey! Woah, just where do you think you’re going?”

Sho-2 beeped at him indignantly, and Miki glared at her counterpart. “Master Keiji is your rightful owner now. We’ll have no more of this Brian Orser gibberish. And don’t try to talk to me about your mission either. You’re lucky he doesn’t blast you into a million pieces right now.”

“It’s alright,” Keiji held up a hand to calm down Miki, not taking his eyes off Sho-2, “but I think we’d better go.”

Sho-2 beeped wildly and rocked from side to side, as if trying to warn them about something. Keiji frowned, brow furrowing at the droid.

“What’s wrong with him now?”

“There are several creatures moving in towards us from the south east.” Miki translated, looking in the direction.

Keiji picked up his weapon that had been leaning against the speeder, an old rifle of sorts, before he scooped up the binoculars too. “The Sand People. Or worse. Let’s go and check it out. Come on.”

Keiji lay on a rock overlooking the other side of the ridge, and he zoomed in on two moving creatures in the distance. “Well, there are two banthas down there, but I don’t see any—… Oh, wait a second, it’s the Sand People alright. I can see one of them now.”

Something blocked Keiji’s view in the binoculars, and he looked up reflexively. There, towering above him, was a creature with what looked like a bandaged-up face, horns, and a spiked staff that was held high about its head. Miki fell back over the rocks behind Keiji as the young man scooped up his own weapon, leaving the binoculars. Using its spiked staff, the creature knocked Keiji’s weapon from him and all but tossed him down off the top of the ridge onto his back on one of the stones nearby. The young man could barely wiggle around to dodge the strikes that were made dangerously close to his head, and the creature cheered in triumph as it repeatedly brought the staff down on the stones.

The cheers and cries of laughter from the Sand People echoed across the valley, and Sho-2 stayed hidden firmly in the gap in the rocks that overlooked Keiji’s abandoned speeder. Two of the Sand People dropped Keiji’s unconscious body down on the sandy floor before they, and one other, started going through his speeder, throwing things around and looking for things to swipe or break. Sho-2 watched Keiji silently for any signs of movement to see if he was still alive, but all that moved was Keiji’s hair in the light breeze.

A scream of sorts filled the valley, and the Sand People turned to see a cloaked figure waving wildly approaching them. Startled, they rushed away from Keiji’s speeder and out of sight, away from the figure. Sho-2 hid himself further into the cracks in the rocks, trying not to be visible. The cloaked figure approached Keiji's body and checked his wrist for a moment. Sho-2 watched as they then checked his head over, looking for any signs of injury on him. After he'd finished his examination, they lowered the hood of their cloak.

The man was old, with grey thinning hair and wrinkles around the corners of his eyes and mouth. He looked at Sho-2 with soft eyes.

"Hello there."

Sho-2 backed away from him slightly, beeping almost shyly. The man smiled and gestured him over.

"Come here my little friend. Don't be afraid. It's alright."

Sho-2 beeped again, looking at Keiji this time instead. The man chuckled, looking down at the other.

"Oh, don't worry. He'll be alright."

As he spoke, Keiji stirred. His eyes fluttered open and he started to sit up, rubbing at his head lightly.

"Rest easy. You've had a busy day. You're fortunate to be all in one piece."

Keiji's eyes focused on the man before they widened and he almost gasped in relief. "Bill? Bill Orser? Man, am I glad to see you!"

Sho-2 made his way out from where he'd been nestled in the rocks over to the pair as Bill spoke up. "The Jundland wastes are not to be travelled lightly." He helped Keiji sit on a rock before he raised an eyebrow at the young man. "Tell me, young Keiji, what brings you out this far?"

"Ugh, this little droid," Keiji gestured to Sho-2. "I think he's searching for his former master, but I've never seen such devotion in a droid before." Both men looked at Sho-2, Bill with much curiosity, as Keiji kept talking. "He, uh, he claims to be the property of a Brian Orser." Bill's eyes widened and his face fell into an unreadable mask. "Do you... Do you know him? Is he a relative of yours? Do you know who he's talking about?"

"Brian Orser," Bill said almost to himself as he sat down on one of the rocks next to Keiji. "Brian. Now that's a name I've not heard in a long, long time."

"I think my uncle knows him." Keiji chipped in helpfully. "He said he was dead though."

"Oh, he's not dead. Well, not yet."

"So you know him?" Keiji asked, hope rising in his voice.

"Well of course I know him." Bill chuckled. "He's me!"

Sho-2 beeped at him, almost in confirmation.

"I haven't gone by the name of Brian Orser since, oh, about the same time that you were born actually."

Keiji gestured to Sho-2 with a little smile. "Well, then the droid does belong to you."

"I don't seem to remember ever owning a droid." Brian commented with a soft smile and a little head tilt at Sho-2. "Very interesting."

The distant screech of the Sand People cut Brian off and he pushed himself to his feet. "We'd better get indoors Keiji. The Sand People are easily startled, but they'll soon be back, and in greater numbers."

As the pair started towards Keiji's speeder, Sho-2 went crazy, beeping wildly. Keiji gasped and lightly smacked his forehead.

"Miki!"

He rushed off back towards the rock he'd watched the Sand People from and scooped up the golden arm that had been broken off by them in the scuffle. Keiji then helped the droid sit up, along with the help of Brian.

"Where am I? I must have taken a bad step." She said a little too calmly.

"Can you stand? We've got to get moving before the Sand People return."

"I don't think I can make it. You go on Master Keiji. There's no point in you risking yourself for my sake. I'm done for."

"No you're not," Keiji almost laughed, "what kind of talk is that?"

"Quickly," Brian said as the two men pulled the droid up, "they're on the move."

"Come on, into the speeder."

By a house set just north of the Dune Sea, Keiji stopped his speeder. Brian climbed out and they took both droids out before they settled into Brian's main room. Keiji listened to him intently as he fixed Miki's arm that the Sand People had broken.

"No, my father didn't fight in the wars," Keiji said with a little laugh, "he was a navigator on a spice freightor."

"That's what your uncle told you," Brian shrugged off his brown cloak and hung it up before he settled into one of the seats next to Keiji, "He didn't harbour your father's ideals. He thought he should have stayed here and not gotten involved."

"You fought in the Clone Wars?" Keiji asked, narrowing his eyes in confusion as he looked at Brian. The older man just smiled gently and nodded.

"Yes. I was once a Jedi knight. The same as your father."

"I wish I'd known him," Keiji mumbled.

"He was the best star pilot in the galaxy," he said with a nod, leaning back in his seat, "and a cunning warrior. I understand you've become quite a good pilot yourself."

Keiji chuckled, shrugging bashfully before he went back to repairing Miki's arm. Brian sighed warmly. "And he was a good friend. Which reminds me," he pushed himself to his feet and opened up the chest pushed up against the wall and pulled out a metal tube, "I have something for you. Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough but your uncle wouldn't allow it. He feared you might follow old Brian on some damn fool idealistic crusade like your father did."

"Sir, if you'll not be needing me, I'll shut down for a while," Miki said to Keiji as he finished repairing her arm.

"Sure," he smiled as he stood up, "go ahead." He walked over to Brian and looked at the tube almost in confusion. "What is it?"

Brian handed it to him. "Your father's lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster."

Keiji pressed the button on the side of it and a blue light ignited, forming a blue sword. He moved it around, enjoying the low hum that it made as he moved carefully. Brian kept talking.

"An elegant weapon, for a more civilised age.It was a symbol as well. Anyone can use a blaster or a fusioncutter, but, to use a lightsaber, well, was a mark of someone a cut above the ordinary. For over a thousand generations, the Jedi knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the Empire."

When Keiji had finished swinging the lightsaber around for fun, he pressed the button again and the blue light vanished. He sat down, still holding it in his hand, before he looked up at Brian with wide, curious eyes. "How did my father die?"

Brian shifted in his seat, almost uncomfortably, before he cleared his throat and spoke up. "A young Jedi named Darth Vader, who was a pupil of mine before he turned to evil, helped the Empire hunt down and destroy the Jedi knights." His blue eyes met Keiji's darker ones as he kept talking. "He betrayed and murdered your father. Now the Jedi are all but extinct."

Keiji's shoulders sagged as he tried to understand fully the weight of the words just spoken to him. Brian kept speaking though with an almost pained and guilty expression.

"Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force."

"The Force? I've heard about it, but what is it exactly?"

Now Brian looked lighter; he sat back and smiled at Keiji instead. "The Force is what gives a Jedi their power. Its an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us. It penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together."

Keiji nodded slowly, eyes wide with curiosity and the overwhelming new knowledge. Sho-2 started beeping frantically in the corner and Brian pushed himself to his feet, heading over to the droid.

"Now, let's see if we can't figure out what you are my little friend." He patted the top of Sho-2 and a blue projection started to come into view, "and where you've come from."

Keiji went back to Miki's arm, tightening up some of the last few sections on the shoulder. "I saw a part of a message--"

"I seem to have found it." Brian said, and Keiji looked up to see the blue projection on the table in front of them.

"General Orser," the young man that Keiji had seen before spoke clearly, with a hint of fear in his voice. He wore white, flowing robes and had a hood covering his hair, however the front still fell neatly just above his eyes, visible. "Years ago, you served my father in the Clone Wars. Now he begs to you help him in his struggle against the Empire. I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person, but my ship has fallen under attack, and I'm afraid my mission to bring you to Alderaan has failed." Brian's eyebrows raised ever so slightly as he kept watching the recording and hologram. "I have placed information vital to the survival of the Rebellion into the memory systems of this Sho-2 unit. My father will know how to retrieve it. You must see this droid delivered safely to him on Alderaan." Emotion then flooded his face and voice, and could clearly be seen even on the hologram. "This is our most desperate hour. Help me, Orser-san. You're my only hope."

The young man then looked behind him and leaned forwards as if inserting something into the front of the Sho-2 unit, before the hologram faded and turned off. Brian leaned back in his chair, staring at the space where the young man was, and Keiji watched the old Jedi curiously.

"You must learn the ways of the Force if you're to come with me to Alderaan."

"Alderaan?" Keiji laughed, standing up and shaking his head. "I'm not going to Alderaan. I've got to get home. It's late. I'm in for it as it is!"

"I need your help, Keiji." He nodded to Sho-2. "He needs your help. I'm getting too old for this sort of thing."

Keiji looked at the floor, having an internal battle before he shook his head, sighing. "I-I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire, in fact I hate it, but there's just nothing I can do about it right now. It's all such a long way from here."

"That's your uncle talking." Brian cut in.

"My uncle... Boy, am I going to get it. How am I ever going to explain this? "Oh, Uncle Owen, I'm leaving you to go to Alderaan because a man in a message inside this Sho-2 unit you told me to get wiped but I didn't told me to go, and then an old Jedi master told me to go with him." Do you know how well he'd take that?"

"Learn about the Force, Keiji."

He looked down at the lightsaber in his hand and sighed, shaking his head. "Listen I... I can take you as far as Anchor Head. You can get a transport there to... uh... Mos Eisley, or wherever it is that you'll be going to get a transport to Alderaan."

Brian nodded slowly in understanding. "You must also do what you feel is right, of course."

* * *

 

Deep in the midst of space, the star destroyer that had taken Yuzuru's ship approached a small moon made entirely of metal: a space station. It landed in one of the hanger bays specifically for the star destroyers, and the admirals and generals aboard scattered to their stations in the Death Star. Several imperial troopers tugged Yuzuru out of the ship and down to the cell banks, and Darth Vader left the ship after Yuzuru, watching the prince go, before he turned to go to a meeting.

"Until this battle station is fully operational, we are vulnerable. The Rebel Alliance is too well equipped. They're more dangerous than you realise." One of the generals seated around the main table spoke almost directly to the man seated to his left. The other almost snorted with a little chuckle.

"Dangerous to your star fleet, Commander, not to this battle station."

"The Rebellion will continue to gain a support in the Imperial Senate--"

"The Imperial Senate," everyone in the room turned to look at the man speaking in the doorway. Behind him was Vader, but the man himself held his head high and looked down upon everyone, "will no longer be of any concern to us." He took his seat in one of the empty ones left, and Vader stood behind him. "I have just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away."

"Impossible!" The first man gasped. "How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?"

"The regional governors now have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station."

"And what of the Rebellion, General Arutyunyan?" the first man spoke up again. "If the rebels have gained the entire technical readout of this battle station, it is possible, however unlikely, that they might find a weakness and exploit it."

"The plans you speak of will soon be back in our hands." Vader spoke up for the first time.

"Any attack made by the Rebels against this battle station would be a useless gesture." The second man almost glared at the first across the table. "No matter what technical data they've obtained. This station is now the ultimate power in the universe. I suggest we use it."

"Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed." Vader cut in, almost in a bored tone. "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force."

"Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion have not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, nor given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebel's hidden fort--"

He cut off, tugging at the high collar of his shirt as he struggled for breath. Vader made a motion with his fingers as if he was choking the man himself physically, however he was doing it almost from across the room.

"I find your lack of faith disturbing."

"Enough of this." Arutyunyan spoke up firmly. "Vader. Release him."

"As you wish," he opened up his hand and the other man slumped forwards on the table, gasping for breath.

"This bickering is pointless." Arutyunyan commanded the attention of the table again firmly. "Lord Vader will provide us with the location of the Rebel Fortress by the time this station is operational. We will then crush the Rebellion with one swift stroke."

* * *

 

Keiji climbed over the piles of rubble, the dead Jawas lying on the sand, and he looked at their broken transport. "I-I mean, it's got to be the Sand People that did this. Look, there's gaffi sticks, bantha tracks, but I've just... I mean, they've never done anything this big before." He spoke to Brian in confusion, looking at the massacre.

"They didn't, but we are meant to think they did." Brian pointed to the tracks in the sand. "These tracks are side by side. Sand People always ride single file to hide their numbers."

"These are the same Jawas that sold us Sho-2 and Miki."

"And these," Brian gestured to the blast points on the Jawas' transport, "blast points are too accurate for Sand People. Only imperial troopers are so precise."

"Why would imperial troopers want to slaughter jawas though?" Keiji asked. He followed Brian's eyes and his heart stopped.

The droids.

"I-If they traced the droids to here, then maybe they knew who they sold them too, and that would lead them back... Home!"

He ran to his speeder and climbed in, ignoring Brian's protests for him to stop. He sped off over the sands, praying that he was wrong.

Keiji gasped as he pulled up to his home. Billowing out of the power generator, the entrance to his home, and the section that looked into their almost courtyard, was thick black smoke. He jumped out of the speeder, looked left and right in desperation.

"Uncle Owen! Aunt Beru!" He shouted, cutting himself off when he saw two burnt figures by the door.

Guilt and anger washed over him, and he couldn't bring himself to look at his burning home properly.

* * *

 

On the space station, a team of four guards and Darth Vader marched into the detention area. A cell was opened, revealing Yuzuru. The prince was sitting on a cold, unforgiving metal bench. Dressed all in white, it was only his black hair that blended in with everything else; the white was a stark contrast to the Death Star. He looked up at the door with wide, dark eyes that were also well guarded and kept most of his emotions well hidden. The guards spilt into the room, and Yuzuru shuffled away from them subtly, pressing himself against the wall. When Vader entered the cell, the prince shivered somewhat and swallowed, forcing himself into a calm state.

"And now, Your Highness, we will discuss the location of your hidden Rebel Base."

Yuzuru's eyes flicked to behind Vader. In the doorway, floating through into the room, was a black spherical droid. The metal protrusions on it nearly made the prince flinch, however he schooled his fear down. The door shut firmly behind the droid as Yuzuru's eyes finally landed on the syringe on the side, containing a white solution. His eyes widened in horror, and finally he showed some emotion: fear. He shrank back, pressing himself into the corner of the room, as Vader, the guards, and the interrogation droid all advanced on him. Swallowing thickly, he mentally prepared himself as his loose, white sleeve was rolled up, and he felt the needle break the skin in the crease of his elbow.

Yuzuru’s screams, after what felt like hours to him, echoed down the hallway.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keiji’s speeder slowed down as he approached the site of the jawa massacre. Miki and Sho-2 had gathered up the bodies and were burning them as Brian surveyed the damaged area. The Jedi had pulled the hood of his brown cloak over his head in mourning for the jawas and also Keiji’s family. Hearing the speeder, the older man turned and relief flooded his features when Keiji climbed out physically unharmed. The expression on the young man’s face told Brian all he needed to know as he made his way slowly back towards the Jedi. Keiji looked up at him, dark brown eyes full of guilt and sorrow that he couldn’t bring himself to voice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone. I don't really know what to say about this chapter other than: Javi is here (finally), and I made the last section too long. Sorry. Please try and enjoy this anyway. Big thank you as always to mybigfatcat for inspiring this and for being so amazing. I'm sorry I'm not as excited as I normally am in these notes; I'll try and be better next time I update. Than you so much for reading xx

Keiji’s speeder slowed down as he approached the site of the jawa massacre. Miki and Sho-2 had gathered up the bodies and were burning them as Brian surveyed the damaged area. The Jedi had pulled the hood of his brown cloak over his head in mourning for the jawas and also Keiji’s family. Hearing the speeder, the older man turned and relief flooded his features when Keiji climbed out physically unharmed. The expression on the young man’s face told Brian all he needed to know as he made his way slowly back towards the Jedi. Keiji looked up at him, dark brown eyes full of guilt and sorrow that he couldn’t bring himself to voice.

“There’s nothing you could have done, Keiji, had you been there. You would have been killed too. And then the droids would now be in the hands of the Empire, and we would never be able to help that young man in the message.”

Keiji nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat. “I-I want to come with you to Alderaan. There’s nothing here for me now. I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi knight like my father was. Please.”

Brian half smiled before he patted the younger’s shoulders and guided him, and the droids, back towards the speeder. “We then need to find a ship and a pilot to take us there. And I think you and I both know just the place to go.”

In Keiji’s speeder, the four of them sped across the desolate sands of Tatooine until they reached one of the high points on the dunes, overlooking miles of the planet. Not far from their point was a city in the middle of the desert. Brian’s upper lip curled slightly as he looked at it in disgust.

“Mos Eisley spaceport.” The Jedi said with a shake of his head. “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We need to be cautious, Keiji.”

Keiji snorted, not really believing him, as they headed down off the dune in the speeder and into the main city spaceport. The streets were filled with all kinds of creatures Keiji had never encountered before. Little sand mice scattered as Keiji flew the speeder down the main street. Droids worked on ships and buildings on both sides, and he took in as much as he could without crashing the speeder. Some citizens walked past them, in the same pale clothes as Keiji to reflect the twin suns’ heat, and others rode on beasts past the speeder too. Imperial guards were dotted around at random entrances; they were stationed in the city to keep the peace but did not do a very good job of it. Street fights regularly broke out and illegal dealings happened far more frequently than legal ones.

Keiji easily weaved the speeder in and out, around people as they made their way through the streets, when a group of Imperial storm troopers waved at the speeder to stop. Swallowing thickly, Keiji looked up at them with a feigned disinterest.

“How long have you had these droids?” The leader asked in the robotic voice.

“About three or four seasons?” Keiji responded smoothly, and Brian held his hand up nearer to his face as he spoke too.

“They are for sale if you want them.”

“Let me see your identification.” The trooper asked again.

Brian waved his hand idly. “You don’t need to see his identification.”

“We don’t need to see his identification.”

“These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”

“These aren’t the droids we’re looking for.” The leader told the other storm troopers around them.

“He can go about his business.”

“You can go about your business.”

“Move along.” Brian said, bored, and the Imperial Storm Trooper waved them on.

“Move along!” He snapped, and Keiji didn’t wait to be told again. He moved the speeder out of the main street and down to where Brian told him to stop: next to a cantina.

As soon as Keiji stopped, jawas were almost all over his speeder, and he shooed them away as he jumped out. Wide eyed, he looked at Brian in confusion.

“I can’t understand how we got past those troops. I thought we were dead to be honest.”

“The Force,” Brian said as he climbed out of the speeder with a little smile on his face, “can have a strong influence on the weak minded.”

Keiji nodded slowly, digesting what Brian had said to him, before he raised an eyebrow sceptically at the cantina next to them. “Do you really think that we’ll find a pilot here who can take us to Alderaan?”

Brian nodded, completely certain of his decision, as he started walking towards the entrance. “Oh, most of the best freighter pilots are to be found here,” he pulled his hood up before he frowned at Keiji, “only watch your step. This place can be a little rough.”

“I’m ready for anything!” Keiji announced with a smile as he followed the older man into the cantina. Miki and Sho-2 followed them both too as they made their way into the dimly lit cantina.

It was like nothing Keiji had ever experienced before. Jazzy music played by four yellow aliens filled the very dark cantina. It was lit at the centre by fluorescent white lights by the bar, and by small glowing cubes at the centre of the tables in each of the more private sections off from the main bar. Everywhere the young man looked was a different kind of creature, from another human that Brian had instantly started talking to at the bar, to a creature that looked similar to a wolf that was drinking from a plastic white glass, to a red creature with black horns and fangs lingering by the bar, to feminine creatures with cat like green eyes and long green hair to match that watched the bar with slight interest. Miki stood next to Keiji as he watched everything slowly and drank it in.

“Hey!” Keiji shook himself out of his confusion to see the man behind the bar glaring in his direction. The whole bar turned to follow the bartender’s finger as he pointed at Keiji. “We don’t serve their kind in here.”

“What?” the young man asked in confusion.

“The droids. We don’t serve their kind in here. They’ll have to wait outside. No one wants them here.”

Rolling his eyes, Keiji turned to Miki. “Can you and Sho-2 go and wait by the speeder? We really don’t want any trouble.”

“I heartily agree sir.”

After the excitement was over, the rest of the cantina lost interest in Keiji and he made his way to the bartender. Near to him, the man Brian was talking to moved out of the way and let Brian talk instead to a creature covered in long, shaggy brown fur. Keiji sighed and tugged on the back of the bartender’s shirt until he handed him a white, plastic cup full of blue liquid.

Keiji once again looked around, completely out of his depth. New creature after new creature came into view, and each corner of the cantina brought a new sight to him that he never expected or even imagined he’d see. Lost in his own head, a rough hand shoved his shoulder back and forced him to face a creature that had wide, black glassy eyes and looked like an insect and gorilla crossed. It made noises at Keiji in an alien language he couldn’t hope to understand without Miki’s help, and so he ignored it and turned back to his drink.

Someone tapped Keiji on the shoulder and he turned, completely on edge now. A stranger with pale skin and a broken, pushed back nose stared back at Keiji.

“He doesn’t like you.”

“I’m sorry,” Keiji half smiled to try and diffuse the tension.

“I don’t like you either,” the other man cut in harshly. “You just watch yourself. We’re wanted men.” The other strangers in the bar started to take more of an interest in the potential fight that was boiling and bubbling under the surface of the tension. “I have the death sentence on twelve systems.”

“I’ll be careful,” Keiji said firmly, trying to end the conversation.

“You’ll be dead!”

“This little one’s not worth the effort,” Brian cut in calmly and smoothly. “Now, let me get you something.”

 Keiji was thrown across the room by the stranger, and he stumbled backwards. Tumbling over, he knocked down a table and the light cubes went everywhere. Brian, still calmly, pulled out his own blue lightsaber and disarmed the man easily before he retreated. Brian held the blue saber still for a moment before he turned it off and offered Keiji a hand up. With the excitement gone, the other patrons of the bar turned away and went back to their drinks and drugs.

“I’m alright,” Keiji said with a grimace as Brian pulled him to his feet.

“Sergei here,” he gestured to the brown furry creature, “is first mate on a ship that might just suit us perfectly. The pair followed the creature to one of the booths in the corner of the room and sat down, waiting almost impatiently.

A young man with deep brown eyes and soft curls approached the table. Light stubble covered his jawline, and his off-white shirt was dipped open. He had on a black waistcoat and dark blue trousers that did nothing to hide the very obvious brown blaster holster on his leg. He slipped into the seat next to Sergei and looked at Keiji and Brian as he studied them.

“I’m Javier Fernandez. I’m captain of the Millennium Falcon. Sergei here tells me you’re looking for passage to the Alderaan system.”

“Yes indeed,” Brian said with a nod, “if it’s a fast ship.”

“A fast ship?” Javier raised an eyebrow at the older man. “You’ve never heard of the Millennium Falcon?”

Brian met his expression with his own raised eyebrow. “And should I have?”

“She’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. Most ships do it in eighteen so that they don’t end up in a black hole, but my girl goes fast enough that she can shave off six parsecs of distance without being sucked into a black hole.” Brian looked less than impressed so Javier kept speaking. “I’ve outrun Imperial starships. Not the local bulk-cruisers, mind you, I’m talking about the big Corellian ships now. She’s fast enough for you Old Man.” Javier said with a sigh. “So, what’s the cargo?”

“Only passengers.” Brian looked at Keiji. “Myself, the boy, two droids,” he then leaned across the table and looked Javier dead in the eyes. “And no questions asked.”

Javier chuckled and smiled a winning smile that Keiji was sure could have seduced half the bar. “What is it? Some kind of local trouble?”

“Let’s just say we’d like to avoid any Imperial entanglements.” Brian said simply.

Javier leaned back and glanced at Sergei with raised eyebrows. “Well, that’s the real trick, isn’t it? And it’s going to cost you something extra.” He looked between the pair before he glanced back at Sergei. “Ten thousand. All in advance.”

“Ten thousand?!” Keiji looked at him like he’d grown a second head. “We could almost buy our own ship for that.”

“But who’s going to fly it kid? You?”

“You bet I could!” Keiji snapped, “I’m not such a bad pilot myself. Come on,” he spoke to Brian now, “we don’t have to sit here and –”

Brian raised a hand and Keiji fell silent. He looked at Javier with all the calm to match Keiji’s outraged outburst. “We can pay you two thousand now. Plus, fifteen when we reach Alderaan.”

It was Javier’s turn to look surprised, and he raised an eyebrow at Brian. “Seventeen?” The older man nodded and Javier nodded in response, leaning back in his seat. “Alright. You guys have got yourselves a ship. We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready. Docking bay ninety-four.”

“Ninety-four,” Brian repeated, and Javier looked past him with a bemused expression.

“Looks like someone’s beginning to take an interest in your handiwork over there, huh.” He said, watching the two storm troopers asking at the bar. Brian and Keiji exchanged a look before they slipped out of the bar.

“Seventeen thousand,” Javier shook his head with a laugh, “these guys must seriously be desperate. This could save my neck, Sergei. Get back to the ship and get her ready for take-off.”

Sergei left first, and Javier sighed with a grin before he too turned to go. A green alien holding out a blaster intercepted him, pressing the barrel of the blaster against his chest firmly.

_Going somewhere Fernandez?_

“Yes Greedo, as a matter of fact I was just on my way to speak to your boss,” Javier was overly polite as he was all but pushed back into his seat. The green alien slipped into the seat opposite him across the table, holding the gun on him firmly still. “Tell Jabba that I’ve got his money.”

_It’s too late. You should have paid him when you had the chance. Jabba’s put a price on your head so large every bounty hunter in the galaxy will be looking for you._ The creature laughed. _I’m lucky I found you first._

“Yeah, but this time I’ve got the money.” Javier shook his head as he rested his black boots up on the table.

_If you give it to me, I might forget I found you._

Javier fiddled with the wall behind his back with his free left hand. His right hand slipped under the table, removing his blaster from its holster out of Greedo’s sight. “I don’t have it with me. Tell Jabba—”

_Jabba’s through with you. He has no time for smugglers who drop their shipments at the first sign of an imperial cruiser._

“Even I get boarded sometimes.” Javier hissed. “You think I had a choice?”

_You can tell that to Jabba. He may only take your ship._

“Over my dead body.”

_That’s the idea. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time._

“Yes, I bet you have.” Javier rolled his eyes and pulled the trigger on his blaster under the table.

Greedo slumped forwards, lifeless on the table, and the rest of the cantina turned to have a look at the action they’d just missed. Javier pushed himself to his feet and walked out of the cantina, pausing only to toss the barman a coin.

“Sorry about the mess.”

* * *

 

“You’ll have to sell your speeder,” Brian said to Keiji, keeping his hood up as they rushed out of the cantina and through the sandy main street of the Mos Eisley spaceport city. After spotting the Imperial troopers, the old Jedi kept his hood up to avoid suspicion and hide his face in case of any trouble. “And we’ll have to collect the droids, especially that Sho-2 unit so we can take it to Alderaan to give Senator Hanyu the information that the young man placed into it. I hope, whatever it is, they can get it out successfully. For their sake, Alderaan’s sake, and possibly the entire galaxy’s sake.

“That’s fine by me. I never intend to come back to this awful planet again so I don’t need that thing anymore. It’s a pretty old model anyway that I’ve had to fix up myself and everything.” Keiji said with a nod as they prepared their things. The younger, especially, was more than ready to leave the planet where he’d been stuck for his whole life and had suffered great losses behind for good. Going to Alderaan with Brian would give him a fresh start, and he wouldn’t need a Tatoonie speeder for a fresh start.

In one of the cold, grey, steel filled rooms of the Death Star, Governor Arutyunyan stood at the center with Vader and other admirals and men from the meeting around him. His face furrowed as he thought.

Vader paced around the room as he spoke, voice robotic and monotonous behind the mask. “The prince’s resistance to the mind probe is considerable. It will be some time before we can extract any information from him.”

Arutyunyan stroked at his chin as he thought, eyes narrowing a little. “Surely there has to be some way we can speed this up? Give him double the dosage? Triple it? Combine it with some other method?”

“That could lead to his death.” Vader said coldly. “To extract information, he needs to be alive first and foremost.”

“Your methods have done very little so far, Vader,” Arutyunyan pointed out. “There has to be another way to get information out of him. He’s a nineteen-year-old child and is very naïve. Surely we can exploit this?”

“He may be young and still in his teenage years, but you have to remember that he’s trained as a senator all his life under the senior Hanyu. He will know how to resist mind controls and probes. He will have been taught this from about the same time as he was taught how to speak.”

“I don’t care. We need that information, Vader. Not excuses. The information. If you have to strap him down and beat him until he can barely breathe or use more mental torment I don’t care, but we need that information. Then the data he’s stolen won’t matter, because the Rebellion will be crushed. Like the Imperial Senate has, the Rebellion too will go. But we need the location of the rebel base, and he has it.”

“He has it very closely guarded. He would never consciously betray the Rebellion. Surely you know that?” Vader said, pausing in his pacing to study Arutyunyan’s neutral expression.

“Unconsciously then. That information is vital to us.”

“Are we not overestimating the Rebellion?” One of the other men in the room chipped in, interrupting the pair. “What good can they do with that information? As soon as ships from the Rebellion come close to us, we can blast them and take out the entire operation swiftly.”

“They’ll have a ground force most likely. Especially with a base, they’ll have a ground force acting to give advice. That’ll be part of Hanyu’s role I would assume.” Vader explained. “Taking out the ships would leave them still there, and no one would be naïve enough to not leave emergency transports for them to evacuate with.”

“Then follow the ships back to the base when the retreat from the attack and blow it up. Simple.”

“The Rebellion is unlikely to launch an attack on this station until they have the plans and Hanyu with them. I doubt they’d want to kill off such a prominent figure in their own ranks. If they have the plans already, the prince being here will be what’s keeping them from attacking and exploiting whatever weakness they’ve found.” Vader shook his masked head.

“Whatever happens, the result is that we need the location of their hidden fortress.” Arutyunyan said coldly. “That is our main priority. Lord Vader will keep attempting to extract information from him, but we need another method to fall back on in case this one doesn’t work.”

“Sir,” the group of men looked up at the newest arrival in the room. The young man bowed his head before he cleared his throat. “The final checkout is completed. All systems are operational. What course should we set first?”

Arutyunyan’s eyebrows raised and a sadistic smirk spread across his face. He lowered his hand and smiled at the rest of the men with his head held high. “Perhaps he would respond to an alternative form of persuasion then.”

“What do you mean?” Vader asked, robotic voice laced with an underlying threat and challenge for Arutyunyan to overstep his mandate and break the prince so that he was useless. “We need him alive, remember.”

“He’ll be alive. Others might not, but he will be. For now. We’ll see what kills him first: the order to terminate his life or the guilt no matter what he responds.”

“Stop speaking like a fool and answer me. What do you mean, Arutyunyan? What are you planning to do?”

“I think it is time we demonstrate the power of this battle station, especially now that it is fully operational. And he is royalty after all. It is only fitting that he is our honoured guest in the ceremony that declares this station fully operational. The course we shall set first, will be for the Alderaan system.”

The other admirals, generals, and guards in the room collectively gasped, but the messenger who had delivered them the news that the weapons systems were fully operational smirked like Arutyunyan did. “With pleasure.”

Vader’s mask hid his face and emotions from the others in the room as he silently turned and left the other men alone. He walked down to the prison bank and ignored the looks from the guards as he opened the cell and stepped in. Still whimpering in pain, Yuzuru lay on the metal slab that acted as the bed and half the space in the room.

“If you just told us what you know,” Vader’s voice broke the small silence of the room and Yuzuru’s eyes fluttered open before he flinched back. The prince let out a small gasp of pain in his back as he moved too fast, and he groaned and let his head fall back on the slab, “then you wouldn’t be in this situation, and you wouldn’t get hurt again and again.”

“I told you, I don’t know where the Rebel base is. And, even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.”

“Your stubborn nature will be the death of you.” Vader said coldly.

“Not if you’re the death of me first.”

With a snarl hidden by his mask, Vader turned in anger and left the prince alone in his cell once again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Alright,” Keiji said with a sigh as he picked up his blanket from inside the speeder, “just give it to me. I’ll take it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Back with star wars again, yay! Sorry for this chapter. There's a lot (and I really mean a lot) of death and angst in this chapter, sorry. I don't know what else to say except for special thanks to mybigfatcat for everything, and thank you so much for reading this xxx

“Alright,” Keiji said with a sigh as he picked up his blanket from inside the speeder, “just give it to me. I’ll take it.”

The creature he was conversing with handed him a wad of credits and the young man looked back at his speeder one more time before he joined Brian.

“Look at this. Since XP-38 came out, my X-34 types just aren’t in demand anymore.”

“It’ll be enough,” Brian reassured him as they hurried off together down towards the docking bays of Mos Eisley. Unknown to the pair, behind them, a creature covered in a black cloak watched their every move and relayed it into a commlink clasped in its hand.

* * *

 

In front of a large, near circular grey ship with scorch marks and loose wires, were dozens of creatures holding blasters surrounding the ship, and a creature that resembled a slug, with a lighter underside. It had two, short arms, and was holding its head upright as it spoke in a foreign tongue to the universal language.

_Fernandez! Come out of there Fernandez!_

“Right here, Jabba,” the creature as well as all the men turned to see Javier standing behind them. The captain sighed a little at the creature. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

_Have you now._ Jabba turned himself around with the strong, muscle packed tail.

“You didn’t think I was going to run, did you?”

Javier approached him slowly as Sergei stepped past them to get the Millennium Falcon ready for the arrival of Brian and Keiji. The captain slowed to a stop in front of Jabba, waiting for him to speak.

_Javi, my boy, you disappoint me. Why haven’t you paid me and why did you fry poor Greedo?_

“Look Jabba, next time you want to talk to me, come and see me yourself. Don’t send one of these twerps.” He hissed, pointing at the other bounty hunters stationed around the ship. The other started moving himself around, and Javier kept the pace with him as they spoke.

_Javi, Javi I can’t make exceptions. What if everyone who smuggled for me dropped their cargo at the first sign of imperial starships? It’s not good business._

“Look Jabba, even I get boarded sometimes.” Javier snapped. To emphasise his point, he walked over Jabba’s tail to his other side, eliciting a shriek of pain and surprise from the alien. “Do you think I had a choice?” He calmed his tone down now and even had the hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth. “But I’ve got a nice, easy charter now, and I’ll pay you back, plus a little extra. I just need a little more time.”

Javier’s soft, doe like eyes and soothing words somehow convinced the other as he placed one of his hands on the captain’s lower back.

_Javi, my boy, you’re the best._ The pair started moving again and Javier relaxed a little more. _So, for an extra twenty percent—_

“Fifteen, Jabba, don’t push it.”

_Okay. Fifteen percent then._ The creature shrugged before he fixed Javier with a piercing glare. _But if you fail me again, I’ll put a price on your head so big you won’t be able to go near a civilised system._

“Jabba,” Javier smiled brightly, “you’re a wonderful human being.”

The captain walked towards the boarding ramp of his ship, humming softly under his breath as Jabba watched him go. Raising a stubby arm, the creature waved the other bounty hunters away with a frown and a glare.

_Come on. Don’t bother him. We have other work to do._

“If the ship’s as fast as his boasting, we ought to do well,” Brian said to Keiji with a smile as they, with Miki and Sho-2, made their way to docking bay ninety-four. “Hopefully we’ll be at Alderaan soon enough, we can deliver the droid, and help this young man.”

Brian waved at Sergei who was waiting by the door of the docking bay for them. The furry creature led them through and into the area, where Keiji’s nose wrinkled in disgust at the sight of the ship.

“What a piece of junk!” He shook his head and rolled his eyes. Brian raised an eyebrow at the younger man, ready to make a comment, when Javier beat him to it from beside the ship.

“She’ll make point five past lightspeed kid. She may not look like much, but she’s definitely got it where it counts kid. Made a lot of special modifications myself.” Javier smiled with pride as he looked at his ship before he cleared his throat and gestured to the ramp up inside. "But, we're a little rushed, so if you'll just get on board, we'll get out of here."

Keiji and Brian exchanged a look before they headed up into the ship, following Sergei. The wookie led them to seats before he headed into the cockpit and started to fiddle with the controls. Behind the two men, Miki and Sho-2 headed up the ramp and Keiji strapped Miki into one of the seats so that she wouldn't get too jostled around during the space travel.

Javier checked over the outside of the ship for a moment, about to climb on board, when imperial troops poured into the docking bay.

"Stop that ship!"

"Blast them!"

The captain's eyes widened and he dodged lasers left and right. Returning shots himself with his trusty blaster, he ran on board the ship and closed the door behind him.

"Sergei get us out of here!" He shouted, sliding down the hallways of the ship into his seat in the cockpit.

"Oh my," Miki said, jostling around in her seat as the ship took off, "I forgot how much I hate space travel!"

The ship raised and took off from the docking bay, passing above the city and spaceport before it went out into space, dodging the blasts from the soldiers on the ground.

Javier fiddled with the controls, steering the ship before he glanced over at Sergei. Adjusting switches, turning dials and moving levers, the pair worked in the ship like a well-oiled machine.

“Looks like an imperial cruiser.” Javier frowned, eyebrows furrowing. “Our passengers must be hotter than I thought. Try and hold them off.” He climbed out of his seats to press more switches and deal with more controls. “Angle the deflector shield while I make the calculations for the jump to lightspeed.”

Two imperial cruisers were on their ship’s tail as Sergei and Javier worked together.

“Stay sharp, there’s two more coming in. They’re going to try and cut us off.”

Keiji ran into the cockpit followed closely by Brian. “Why don’t you outrun them?” The youngster asked. “I thought you said this thing was fast?”

“Watch your mouth, kid, or you’re going to find yourself floating home,” Javier retorted sharply. “We’ll be safe enough once we make the jump to hyperspace. Besides, I know a few manoeuvres. We’ll lose them.”

Steering the ship, Javier and Sergei exchanged a look as green lasers were fired from the cruisers. The ship rocked from the force of them, shaking Keiji and Brian who were both on their feet.

“This is where the fun begins,” Javier said with a dry chuckle.

“How long until you can make the jump to light speed?” Brian asked calmly, despite their situation.

Javier keyed in something to the computer before he kept fiddling with the controls. “It’ll be a few moments until we get the coordinates from the Nav-computer.”

“Seriously? You’re kidding me, right? At the rate they’re gaining?” Keiji asked, eyes wide.

Javier rolled his eyes. “Travelling through hyperspace isn’t like dust in crops, kid. Without precise calculations, we’d fly right through a star or bounce too close to a supernova, and that would end your trip real fast wouldn’t it? Huh?”

A red light started flashing on the controls that Javier pointedly ignored in favour of steering the ship away from the lasers. He and Sergei exchanged a look as Keiji’s eyes widened.

“What’s that flashing?” He asked, pointing at the light.

Javier shoved his hand away from the controls. “We’re losing the deflector shield. Go and strap yourselves in. I’m going to make the jump to lightspeed.”

Brian and Keiji both rushed back to their seats to strap in and, once Javier felt he’d given them enough time, he moved two of the silver levers on the control panel closer together. The stars around them stretched before they entered what looked like a swirl of blue light in hyperspace, travelling at lightspeed.

* * *

 

The huge metallic moon approached a pale blue planet with white swirls of blue dotted across it like clouds across a summer’s day. Standing in the viewing window was Arutyunyan. His hands were held tightly behind his back and a small smirk spread across his face as he looked down his nose at the planet before him. Another general approached him, speaking in a low voice, and he turned with a cold smile towards the door.

Looking much worse for wear and flanked by four guards as well as Darth Vader himself, was Yuzuru. The prince’s wrists were bound in front of him tightly, and his white, flowing clothes were dirtied by small stains and smears of dirt in places. Still, however, he held himself like a prince and senator would.

“We’ve entered the Alderaan system,” one of the other generals told Arutyunyan softly as the prince stopped in front of them both.

“Governor Arutyunyan.” His voice was laced with disgust and feigned pleasantries. “I should have expected to find you holding Vader’s leash. I recognised your foul stench when I was brought on board.”

Despite being much shorter than him and having Vader’s huge, imposing form lingering behind him, Yuzuru’s eyes burned with a fire that made Arutyunyan chuckle. He sighed, reaching out to cup the prince’s chin. “Charming to the last, Yuzuru. You don’t know how hard I found it signing the order to terminate your life.”

Yuzuru turned his head sharply to get the other man’s fingers away from him but he didn’t break the eye contact between them. “I’m surprised you had the courage to take the responsibility yourself.”

“Prince Yuzuru,” he smiled coldly as he paced around, “before your execution, I would like you to be my honoured guest in a ceremony that will make this battle station operational. No star system will dare oppose the Emperor now.”

Yuzuru sighed, shaking his head and adjusted his tone as if speaking to a child. “The more you tighten your grip, Arutyunyan, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.”

“Not after we demonstrate the power of this station. In a way, you have determined the choice of the planet that will be destroyed first. Since you are reluctant to provide us with the location of the Rebel Base, I have chosen to test this station’s destructive power on your home planet of Alderaan.”

Yuzuru’s deep brown eyes widened and he was almost instantly in front of Arutyunyan, pleading with him. “No! No, please, Alderaan is peaceful. We have no weapons. You can’t possibly—”

“You would prefer another target, a military target?” Arutyunyan turned to face the prince and advanced on him. “Then name the system Yuzuru.”

The prince flinched backwards until he hit the unforgiving armour covering Darth Vader’s chest with his still-sensitive back. Arutyunyan didn’t stop advancing on him until he towered over the prince, enjoying the fear that was finally evident in his usually guarded eyes and the complete control he had over him.

“I grow tired of asking this, so it will be the last time.” He leaned closer to Yuzuru, chin and lips nearly brushing the younger’s forehead. “Where is the Rebel Base?”

Yuzuru looked past him, out of the viewing window and at his home planet. To the galaxy, Alderaan was known as “the planet of beauty”, and he couldn’t disagree. There were citizens down there. People he knew. People who loved him, adored him, supported him through everything, and then there was his family and the people who had raised him. Two billion beings lived there; ninety-five percent human and five percent other. Memories of walking through the snow-capped mountains, swimming in the cool lakes, and enjoying the green scenery around him with his parents bubbled to the surface of his mind. His heart hurt with fear and his stomach twisted as he looked at the beautiful pale blue planet with the soft swirling white clouds that had been so integral in his life and so important.

“D-Dantooine,” he breathed out before he lowered his gaze to the floor and swallowed the lump in his throat. “O-On Dantooine.”

Arutyunyan smirked before he stroked Yuzuru’s cheek with the back of his hand lightly. “There, you see Lord Vader, he can be reasonable.” He turned away and spoke to the other guards as Yuzuru focused on calming himself down. “Continue with the operation. You may fire when ready.”

It took a few seconds for the words to register in the prince’s mind, but his head snapped up and his eyes were open wide, laced with utter betrayal. “What?!”

“You’re far too trusting.” Arutyunyan smirked. “Dantooine is too remote to make an effective demonstration, but don’t worry. We will deal with your rebel friends soon enough.”

 “No!” Yuzuru ran forwards, to do what he didn’t know, but he was pulled back by Vader and held in a vice like grip. He turned his head away, closed his eyes, but was slapped on the back of his head until he turned back and looked.

As the men around him completed their final checks, tears brimmed in Yuzuru’s eyes that he wouldn’t let fall. He couldn’t let them fall, especially not in front of these people. Vader’s grip tightened on his shoulder, pressing into one of the painful injection sites from earlier, and he squirmed in discomfort.

Several green lasers gathered together after what felt like an age and joined at a point in front of the Death Star, visible from the viewing window. Yuzuru’s heart stopped as a green laser shot out in the direction of Alderaan. For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the beautiful blue and green planet with swirling white clouds exploded into a cloud of white-hot asteroids and dust. Yuzuru’s home was there one second and, in the next, was reduced to nothing. Had Vader not been holding the prince up, he would have collapsed on the floor.

“Return him to his cell.” Arutyunyan ordered, waving his hand idly in Yuzuru’s direction as he admired his handiwork out of the viewing window.

The prince barely registered what was going on as two of the guards pulled him forwards by his arms, dragging him back to his familiar cell. His mind buzzed with white noise and static as he collapsed to his knees in the centre of the cell, unable to comprehend what had happened enough to cry.

* * *

 

After the ship had calmed down and settled into hyperspace, Keiji and Brian had both stood up. The younger had his lightsaber drawn, watching the spherical white droid hovering in front of him. He watched it, ready for it to fire at him, as the droids and Sergei sat down together around the table. Brian watched Keiji carefully for a moment before his face fell and he touched his chest over his heart like he’d been struck physically.  He sat down and held his forehead.

“Are you alright?” Keiji asked softly, powering down the lightsaber before he looked at Brian with wide eyes. “What’s wrong?”

“I felt a great disturbance in the Force,” Brian’s voice was tight and laced with pain, “as if millions of voices cried out in terror, but then were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.” He sighed before he gestured to the hovering droid again. “You’d better get on with your exercises Keiji.”

The young man patted his shoulder gently before he stepped away and drew his lightsaber again; the pale blue blade lit up the poorly lit interior of the ship.

“Well,” Javier all but bounced out of the cockpit and sank down into one of the other free seats, “you can forget about your troubles with those Imperial slugs. I told you I’d outrun them, didn’t I?”

Keiji was too focused on blocking the red laser blasts from the small droid in front of him, Brian was watching intently, and the droids were playing some form of game on the table, meaning no one responded to the captain’s comments. Javier sighed.

“Don’t everybody thank me at once. Anyway, we should be at Alderaan at 0200 hours.”

At the table, Sho-2 moved one of the levers on the edge of it, and one of the many holographic creatures on the table moved around to nearer the centre. Sergei then moved one of the levers on his own side and a lighter coloured creature moved two spaces into the middle as well. Miki looked down at the board before she spoke up.

“Now, be careful Sho-2.”

Sho-2 made a beeping noise back at her before he clicked another one of the levers. A different creature stepped forwards and raised the one Sergei had just moved to the centre. It brought it down, and Sergei’s creature crumpled into a holographic heap on the table.

Sergei’s growls shocked Miki. “He made a fair move! Screaming about it can’t help you.”

“Let him have it.” Javier cut in from across the room, stealing Miki’s attention. “It’s unwise to upset a wookie.”

“But sir, nobody worried about upsetting a droid.”

“That’s because droid don’t pull people’s arms out of their sockets when they lose. Wookies are known to do that.”

Miki glanced at Sergei before she nodded. “I see your point sir. I suggest a new strategy Sho-2. Let the wookie win.”

Keiji, ignoring the droids, Javier, and Sergei, was focusing instead on following the training droid. With each red laser it fired, he reacted and blocked it from hitting him as Brian watched him with a mentor’s eye.  

“Remember, a Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him.” Brian said, and Keiji nodded slowly as he followed the droid with his eyes.

“You mean it controls your actions?”

“Partially. But it also obeys your commands.”

Keiji nodded, but the distraction of listening to Brian meant that a red laser snuck past his lightsaber blade and caught his side. His little grunt of pain was drowned out by Javier’s snort of laughter.

“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.”

Keiji frowned at him, withdrawing the lightsaber blade, before he sighed. “You don’t believe in the Force, do you?”

“Kid,” Javier half smiled, “I’ve flown from one side of the galaxy to another. Seen a lot of strange stuff, but I’ve never seen anything that will make me believe that there’s this one all powerful Force controlling everything. No mystical energy field controls my destiny. It’s all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense.”

Brian pushed himself to his feet and picked up a helmet off a hook on the wall. "I suggest you try it again Keiji, but this time let go of your conscious self, and act on instinct."

He put the helmet on the younger's head and Keiji just laughed. A thick grey shield covered his eyes and he shook his head a little. "With the blast shield down I can't even see. How am I supposed to fight like this?"

"Your eyes can deceive you," Brian said simply, "don't trust them."

With a sigh, Keiji held the saber up again, ready to fight. The spherical droid moved around in the air in front of him again before it shot out another laser, hitting him in the side. Keiji let out a little grunt of pain and Brian sighed.

"Stretch out with your feelings, Keiji."

The younger nodded and raised the saber again. The spherical droid fired out three rapid laser shots that Keiji reflexively blocked with the lightsaber as if he could see where each of them was going to be in advance. Brian smiled.

"You see? You can do it."

"I call it luck," Javier said from his seat.

"In my experience there's no such thing as luck." Brian said firmly and politely.

"Listen, good against remotes is one thing. Good against the living?" Javier watched as Keiji hung the helmet back up again on the wall, "Well, it's something else." An alert on the Falcon started to ring and Javier pushed himself to his feet. "Looks like we're coming up on Alderaan. Come on Sergei."

He and the wookie headed into the cockpit as Keiji looked at Brian in wonder and amazement.

"You know, I did feel something. I could almost see the remote."

"That's good!" Brian patted his side with a bright smile, "You've taken your first step into a larger world."

* * *

 

In the main meeting room, with Arutyunyan sitting at the table and Vader standing nearby, another general came in and cleared his throat.

"Yes?" Arutyunyan asked, looking up from his datapad.

"Our scout ships have reached Dantooine. They found the remains of a Rebel Base, but they estimate that it has been deserted for some time. They are now conducting an extensive search of the surrounding systems." Arutyunyan's face hardened in anger and he stood up, fists shaking with barely checked rage. "He lied. He lied to us!"

"I told you," Vader said, almost smug, "that he would never consciously betray the Rebellion."

"Terminate him then!" The general snapped. "Now. Or later today. The sooner the better. I don't want him alive for a second longer than necessary, and make it painful."


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Falcon flew through hyperspace, with the stars a blue swirl of light around them as they hurtled towards Alderaan. Javier and Sergei took their seats back in the cockpit together where they fiddled with dials and switches.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is back! Yay! This chapter is really long, sorry, but I got to a finishing point I was happy with. Yuzuru finally meets the rest of the gang! Yay! I don't know what else to say except thank you mybigfatcat and please enjoy the chapter xx

The Falcon flew through hyperspace, with the stars a blue swirl of light around them as they hurtled towards Alderaan. Javier and Sergei took their seats back in the cockpit together where they fiddled with dials and switches.

"Stand by Sergei. I'm cutting the sub light engines. Then it's hello Alderaan, hello seventeen thousand, and goodbye debts to Jabba the Hutt."

Javier flicked two switches before he sat back down in his seat. The stars stopped swirling as the ship slowed down, and they were soon jostled around by the multiple meteorites around the ship. Javier frowned, looking at the Nav computer before he looked back out into the vastness of space.

"What the hell is this?"

Sergei spoke to him and Javier nodded, still looking out of the ship's main window. "We've come out of hyperspace in a meteor shower or something. Some kind of asteroid collision I'd guess. But it's not on any of the charts."

"What's going on?" Keiji and Brian both ran into the cockpit, clearly looking for Alderaan. The blue planet was completely gone from the sky as if it had vanished into the vacuum of space.

"Our position's correct," Javier said with a frown, "except, no Alderaan."

"What do you mean? Where is it?"

"That's what I'm telling you, kid, it ain't there." Javier said with a little huff. "It's been totally blown away."

"What?" Keiji asked in a mixture of awe and confusion. "How?"

"Destroyed," Brian said in a tight voice, "by the Empire."

Javier half scoffed. "The entire star fleet couldn't destroy an entire planet. It would take more than a thousand ships with the fire power greater than that of--"

A beeping cut them off from the ship, and Javier's frown only deepened and darkened.

"What is it?" Keiji asked softly. Javier checked the screen and his brow furrowed in confusion.

"There's another ship coming in."

"Maybe they know what happened?" Keiji supplied almost naively.

"It's an imperial fighter," Brian studied the screen too.

Javier and Sergei both reached for different switches as laser blasts aimed for them, and the ship rocked slightly in space as the imperial style fighter with the two hexagonal plates on either side of the spherical cockpit passed over them.

"It followed us!" Keiji said with almost a gasp of surprise.

"No, it didn't," Brian said calmly as he studied it, "It's a short range fighter."

"Well, there aren't any bases around here, where did it come from? Alderaan?"

The Falcon chased after it, starting to close the distance between the two ships, and Keiji frowned as they chased after it.

"It sure is leaving in a big hurry. If they identify us, we're in big trouble."

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Javier said firmly. "Sergei, jam its transmissions."

"You'd be better to let it go; it's too far out of range." Brian said but Javier shrugged him off.

"Not for long," Javier said firmly.

The Falcon raced towards the imperial fighter, closing the distance more between them. Javier narrowed his eyes, focusing on closing the distance, but Brian frowned in confusion.

"A fighter that size couldn't get that deep into space on its own."

"It must have been lost," Keiji tried to reason, "or been part of a convoy or something."

"Well, he isn't going to be around long enough to tell anybody about us." Javier said firmly as he and Sergei chased the ship, getting closer and closer to it as they sped up and chased it down.

"Look at him!" Keiji pointed out of the window, just past Sergei. "He's heading for that small moon."

"I see him. I think I can get him before he gets there." Javier nodded, eyes narrowing as they increased the speed again and followed the ship, getting closer and closer to it. "He's almost in range."

"That's no moon," Brian said softly in awe, mouth open a little in almost shock, "that's an Imperial Space Station."

"It's way too big to be a space station." Javier cut in firmly.

The ship approached what looked to be a metal moon with a slight spherical indentation and a horizontal split between the north and south hemispheres of it. The small imperial ship aimed for it, flying towards it, and Sergei let out a small whine at Javier. Keiji tried to swallow but his mouth dried out.

"I have a very bad feeling about this," he mumbled.

"Turn the ship around," Brian said firmly.

"Yeah," Javier nodded, flicking switches and dials, "I think you're right. Full reverse. Sergei, lock in the auxiliary power."

The ship still moved forwards and bounced around slightly, almost as if it was travelling through another asteroid field or through a turbulent part of space. Javier frowned, glancing at Sergei out of the corner of his eye.

"Sergei, lock in the auxiliary power." "Why are we still moving towards it?" Keiji asked, and Javier grimaced.

"We're caught in a tractor beam. It's pulling us in."

"There's got to be something you can do!"

"There's nothing I can do about it kid, I'm telling you that for free. I'm full power. I'm going to have to shut down. They're not going to get me without a fight."

As Javier cut the power, the path of the ship stabilised as they were pulled easily in towards the huge spherical space station. Brian sighed, leaning towards him.

"You can't win. But there are alternatives to always fighting."

As the ship was pulled in by the tractor beam, it flew towards the equator of the station where there was a huge metallic trench. The ship flew into one of the docking bays that was opened up for it by the two controllers of the entry and exit of ships to the station. It was almost brilliantly confident how the Falcon flew in without any resistance; she landed neatly in the space left for her, and crews on the station were sent almost into chaos by her arrival.

Raphael pressed the communications button on the main meeting table by his seat, accepting the call with a frown. "Yes?"

"We've captured a freighter entering the remains of the Alderaan system. Its markings match those of a ship that blasted its way out of Mos Eisley."

Vader walked over to Raphael and spoke up, and his tone was laced with an almost smug amusement. "They must be trying to return the stolen plans to the prince. He may yet be of some use to us."

Several squadrons of storm troopers were standing guard over the entrance and exit of the Falcon, and Vader himself soon left the meeting room and headed through the corridors down to the hanging bay containing the ship. He met with an admiral, half listening as he spoke up.

"There's no one on board, sir. According to the ship's log, the crew abandoned ship right after takeoff. It must be a decoy sir. Several of the escape pods have been jettisoned."

"Did you find any droids?"

"No sir. If there were any on board, they must also have jettisoned."

"Send a scanning crew aboard the ship," Vader said firmly, looking past the admiral to the ship, "I want every part of this ship checked."

"Yes sir."

"It's strange. I sense a presence. One I've not felt since..." Vader trailed off before he turned and left, leaving behind him an almost bewildered admiral.

"Get me a scanning crew in here on the double! I want every part of this ship checked, now!"

Stormtroopers walked through the corridors and hallways of the Falcon, taking in Javier's discarded jacket on one of the seats as well as the thin layer of dust covering the cargo hold. Finding no humans or droids, the troopers met by the entrance.

"There's no one here," they agreed before they turned tail and left the ship.

After a few moments, one of the pieces of metal on the floor lifted, revealing secret compartments in the hallways of the Falcon. Keiji and Javier both poked their heads out of the floor as the stood, stretching slightly.

"Boy, it's lucky you had these compartments," Keiji whispered as they moved the slab aside. Another one opened up, revealing Brian, as he sat on the edge of the gap.

"I use them for smuggling," Javier confessed, holding his blaster at the ready. "I never thought I'd be smuggling myself though. This is ridiculous. Even if I could take off, I'd never get past the tractor beam."

"Leave that to me," Brian said quietly.

"Damn fool, I knew you were going to say that." Javier sat on the edge too. Keiji followed suit and Brian raised an eyebrow at Javier.

"Who's the more foolish: the fool, or the fool who follows him?"

Javier half smirked, reaching down to move some of the fur out of Sergei's eyes. "You got a plan?"

"I've got half a plan?" Keiji said with a hum.

"Half a plan's better than no plan I guess."

Outside the ship, two more men opened up the lid of a scanning case and met up with two of the troopers stationed outside. The trooper waved them in, speaking up.

"The ship's all yours. If the scanners pick up anything, report it immediately. Alright. You're cleared to go in. Let's go."

The two men carried the box in, leaving the two troopers guarding the entrance alone outside the ship. There was a little scuffled heard inside, then two blaster shots.

"Hey, down there!" someone shouted back out of the ship and down to the two troopers guarding the entrance. "Could you give us a hand with this?"

The two storm troopers guarding the entrance headed up the stairs before two blaster shots were again heard.

"TK421, why aren't you at your post?" a commander from the control room overlooking the hanger bay containing the Millennium Falcon asked, speaking into a communicator as he observed the missing storm troopers. "TK421, do you copy?"

When he got no response, the commander walked over to the window overlooking the bay and ship, and raised an eyebrow at one of the troopers as they stepped out of the ship. The trooper looked up and him, making eye contact through his helmet, and knocked on the side of it as it rattled slightly. The commander nodded and saluted to the trooper.

"Take over. We've got a bad transmitter," he said firmly, heading towards the door of the control room, "I'll see what I can do."

He pressed the control panel on the wall and the door opened vertically, revealing a storm trooper as well as Sergei, Brian, Miki, and Sho-2. The commander barely had time to widen his eyes before the trooper took aim and fired, taking out the different workers in the control room. The group stepped into the room as a second trooper ran in after them. The first trooper removed his helmet, revealing Javier's soft brown curls as he shook them out and looked at his ship from the viewing window. The second trooper shut the door and pulled off his own helmet, eyes narrowed at Javier.

"You know, with his howling," he gestured at Sergei, "and you blasting everything in sight, it's a wonder the whole station doesn't know we're here."

Keiji set his helmet down on one side as Javier rolled his eyes at him.

"Bring them on then. I'd prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around."

Sho-2's beeping cut off their argument, and Miki translated easily for the group. "We've found the computer outlet for Sho-2."

"Plug in," Brian directed calmly but firmly. "He should be able to interpret the entire Imperial network. The prince is intelligent, choosing to use a Sho-2 unit. Better built than an R2 unit but still compatible with everything an R2 unit can use, and the Imperials mostly use R2 units themselves. Intelligent young man."

Sho-2 plugged in and beeped at Miki as he read through the Imperial network. Miki translated for them, agreeing with what Sho-2 said mostly.

"He says he's found the main controls to the power beam that's holding the ship here. He'll try to make the precise location appear on the monitor."

The whole group looked at the monitor screen, watching as the images changed rapidly and Miki kept talking. "The tractor beam is coupled to the main reactor in seven locations. A power loss at any one of the terminals would result in the beam being turned off and will allow the ship to leave."

On the monitor, something lit up that registered a level of understanding in Brian's eyes. He half smiled at Keiji and Javier, and it was tainted with wistfulness as he sighed.

"I don't think you boys can help. I must go alone."

"Whatever you say," Javier said somewhat cautiously as Brian moved past him to the door. "I've had way more than I bargained for on this trip anyway."

"I want to go with you," Keiji protested quietly as they lingered by the door. Brian patted his shoulder, shaking his head.

"Be patient Keiji. Stay and look after the droids." Keiji opened his mouth to protest but remained silent when Brian raised his hands. "They must be delivered safely or other star systems will suffer the same fate as Alderaan. Your destiny lies along a different path from mine." He turned and opened the door, revealing the empty corridor. "The Force will be with you Keiji. Always."

Keiji watched Brian go as long as he dared before he closed the door and sighed, swallowing down his feelings of dread. Sergei let out a small roar and Javier nodded, watching the exchange.

"You said it, Sergei." Javier pushed himself to his feet and shook his head at Keiji. "Where did you dig up that old fossil?"

"Hey, Brian is a great man."

"Yeah, great at getting us into trouble. I mean, look at us!"

"I didn't hear you give any other ideas!" Keiji snapped back.

"Well anything's better than waiting around here for them to pick us up!"

"Who do you think--" Keiji was cut off by Sho-2 beeping wildly. The young man frowned and ignored Javier in favour of looking at the droid curiously. "What? What is it?"

"I'm afraid I'm not quite sure, sir," Miki said with a frown. "He says 'I've found him!' and keeps repeating 'he's here!'."

"Who?" Keiji asked softly. "Who's here? Who has he found?"

"Prince Yuzuru."

Keiji's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. "T-the prince? He's here?"

Miki nodded, and Javier looked between the two as if they'd both grown a second head.

"Prince?" he asked, trying to comprehend the situation.

"Where?" Keiji asked almost desperately. "Where is he?"

"What prince? What's going on?" Javier tried to cut into Keiji and Miki's conversation but they were having none of it.

"Level five, detention block AA23," Miki translated Shoma's beeps for Keiji, who nodded and half smiled. Shoma kept beeping and Miki sighed. "Oh dear. I'm afraid he's been scheduled to be terminated."

"Oh no," Keiji's face fell and his mind worked faster. He turned to Javier with wide eyes. "We've got to do something!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Javier asked, patience growing very thin.

"The droids belong to him. He's the one in the message! We've got to help him."

"Now look," Javier said firmly, "don't get any funny ideas. The old man wants us to stay right here."

"Yeah, but he didn't know that Prince Yuzuru was here." He sighed, turning to the droids instead of Javier. "Can you find us a way into that detention block?"

"I'm not going anywhere," Javier singsonged, sitting down firmly on one of the seats the commanders used.

"They're going to execute him! Look, a few minutes ago you were saying you didn't want to wait around to get captured, and now all you want to do is stay?"

"Marching into the detention area isn't quite what I had in mind."

"But they're going to kill him!"

"Better him than me!" Javier snapped back harshly.

Keiji rolled his eyes, sighing as he thought before it was like a light bulb went off above his head and he turned back to Javier. "He's rich."

"Rich?" Javier asked, raising an eyebrow at Keiji.

"Yeah. Rich, powerful, if you were to rescue him the reward would be..."

"What?"

"Well, more wealth than you can imagine!"

"I don't know. I can imagine quite a bit."

"You'll get it."

"I'd better."

"You will!"

"Alright kid. You'd better be right about this." Javier pushed himself to his feet. "What's your plan? Cause I'm absolutely not walking straight into the detention area without a plan."

Keiji nodded, looking around the room with a little hum. "Um... Hey, Miki, hand me those binders over there, would you?" The droid handed him the metal cuffs and he hummed, striding over to Sergei. "Okay. I'm going to put these on you--"

Sergei roared and Keiji flinched back. Javier smirked behind his back and Keiji shoved the binders into his hands. "O-Okay, uh, you... you put those on him."

Javier almost laughed at Keiji's expression before he smiled up at Sergei. "Don't worry Sergei. I think I know what he has in mind."

"Master Keiji sir," Miki piped up, "pardon me for asking, but what should Sho-2 and I do if we're discovered here?"

"Lock the door." Keiji said, picking up his trooper helmet before he put it back on. Javier did the same and shot Miki a smirk.

"And hope they don't have blasters."

"That isn't very reassuring," Miki said, shaking her metallic head as the two droids watched Javier, Sergei, and Keiji leave the control room and head towards the detention area.

Following the route that the droids had planned for them, Keiji and Javier led Sergei in the binders towards a set of lifts to take them to level 5 and the detention block the prince was in. They slipped seamlessly through the halls of the Star in their uniforms and got into a lift privately due to Sergei being with them.

"I can't see a thing in this helmet." Keiji whispered and Javier nodded as the door shut behind them.

* * *

 

Brian slipped through the corridors almost unnoticed, pressing himself easily to the walls of the corridor as he followed groups of soldiers. Vader, in a separate corridor, stopped to really consider the presence he was feeling.

* * *

 

One of the binders on Sergei's wrist had come undone and they checked it in the privacy of the lift.

"This is not going to work," Javier said quietly.

"Why didn't you say so before?"

"I did say so before!"

The lift door opened up, and the pair led Sergei out into the detention area. A dozen commanders and guards lingered around, pointing to screens and speaking to higher commanders through communication links. They turned to face the two troopers and the wookie, and the leader's upper lip curled.

"Where are you taking this... thing?"

"Prisoner transfer," Keiji lied smoothly, "from cell block 1138."

The commander's eyebrows raised and he frowned. "I wasn't notified. I'll have to clear it."

Waving a hand, two guards went to arrest Sergei. With the broken binder, he threw two of the guards across the room.

"Look out, he's loose!" Javier shouted behind the mask, and the two disguised troopers started to take out the other guards and security cameras with the guns as Sergei wrestled one for himself too. The air was soon filled with red blaster shots as guard after guard fell due to their speed, and the cameras exploded. Javier moved to the control panel and pulled a body off it before he scanned the list of prisoners.

"We've got to find out which cell this prince of yours is in. Here it is! 21-87. You go and get him, and I'll hold them off here."

Keiji made his way along the cell bank, trying to find 21-87, and Javier pulled off his helmet and cleared his throat. "U-Uh, everything's under control. Situation normal."

"What happened?" the voice on the other end crackled and asked. Javier cleared his throat again, trying to buy Keiji more time.

"We had a, uh, a slight weapon's malfunction. But, uh, everything's fine now. We're all fine, thank you. How are you?"

"We're sending a squad up."

"U-Uh, negative, negative. We have a reactor leak here. Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak. Very dangerous."

"Who is this? What's your operating number?"

"U-Uh," Javier gave up and shot the communicator with his blaster. "Boring conversation anyway. Keiji! Hurry up, we're going to have company!"

Keiji nodded, scanning the cell bank for the right cell. He found it and pressed the button to open the door when he had to stop for a moment.

The prince lay on a cold, unforgiving metal bench with his eyes closed and his head resting on his arms. His white clothes were slightly stained from a long time spent on the Death Star, and he opened his eyes almost as soon as he heard the trooper stumble into the room.

"Aren't you a little short for a storm trooper?" the prince asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Huh? Oh, the uniform." Keiji pulled the helmet off and smiled at Yuzuru. "I'm Keiji Takahashi, I'm here to rescue you!"

"You're who?" Yuzuru asked, standing up but still studying Keiji's face.

"I'm Keiji Takahashi, I've got your Sho-2 unit. I'm here with Brian Orser."

"Orser-san? Where is he?!"

Keiji led Yuzuru out of the cell and into the passage way.

* * *

 

"He is here." Vader said firmly.

"Brian Orser? What makes you think so?" Raphael asked with a frown.

"A tremor in the Force. The last time I felt it was in the presence of my old master."

"Surely he must be dead by now."

"Don't under estimate the power of the Force."

"The Jedi are extinct; their fire has gone out of the universe. You, my friend, are all that's left of their ancient religion." He pressed the button on the flashing communicator. "Yes?"

"We have an emergency alert in detention block AA23."

"The prince? Put all sections on alert!"

"Brian Orser is here. The Force is with him."

"If you're right, he must not be allowed to escape."

"Escape is not his plan. I must face him alone."

* * *

 

Back in the detention block, Sergei and Javier stood in front of Keiji and Yuzuru. Javier pushed the two younger men behind him and aimed at the lifts, ready to fire at the troopers.

"Stay behind me you two!"

A hole was blasted in the doorway and Javier and Sergei tried to pick off the other troopers as they entered. As more spilled into the room, the group disappeared down the cell bank and hid.

"Can't get out that way," Javier grimaced. Yuzuru looked around him and gave him a withering look.

"Looks like you managed to cut off our only escape route."

"Would you like it back in your cell, Your Highness?"

A blaster shot just above Yuzuru's head cut their argument short and the group pressed themselves to the sides of the cell bank. Relentless blaster fire came upon them which Keiji, Sergei, and Javier attempted to return.

"Miki! Miki! Is there any other way out of the cell bank? We've been cut off!" Keiji all but shouted into the com-link.

"All systems have been alerted to your presence, sir. The main entrance seems to be the only way in or out. All other information on your level is restricted."

"Open up in there!" Miki looked up in horror at the tapping on the door.

"There isn't any other way out!" Keiji shouted to Javier who rolled his eyes. Yuzuru shook his head in disdain.

"I can't hold them off forever!" Javier snapped back. "Now what?"

"This is some rescue!" Yuzuru yelled. "You had a plan for getting in here; didn't you have a plan for getting out?"

Jaier indicated to Keiji next to Yuzuru and yelled back at him with just as much fire. "He's the brains, sweetheart!"

"But I didn't--" Keiji shut up when Yuzuru wrestled the blaster out of his hands and shot the grate next to Javier's feet.

"What the hell are you doing?" Javier shouted at him, and Yuzuru just rolled his eyes.

"Somebody has to save our skins!" He blasted at the troopers as he made his way onto the other side of the cell bank. "Into the garbage chute, flyboy." Yuzuru threw Keiji his gun back before he slipped down the hole in the grate and disappeared from sight.

"Get in there!" Javier shouted to Sergei. "I don't care what you smell! Get in there now!"

He kicked the wookie into the gap too before he turned to Keiji and rolled his eyes. "Wonderful boy! Either I'm going to kill him or I'm beginning to like him! Get in there kid!"

Keiji dived across the cell bank and straight into the chute before Javier blasted the chute a few more times and disappeared down the chute too.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Javier let out a small shriek as he fell through the gap and landed in a pile of Force only knew what below. He scrambled out of it, taking in Sergei struggling with the door in vain, and a less than impressed Yuzuru and Keiji watching him. He met the Prince’s glare with his own as he moved discarded pieces of old droids off him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! You didn't think I forgot about this story, did you? Cause I didn't, I promise! I was super busy and just couldn't write this and I'm sorry!!!! Anyway! This chapter is so much longer than I initially planned but this was the best place I could think of to stop it. We have Yuzu and Javi sassing each other! We have Miki panicking! We have Sho-2 being sarcastic! We have Brian! We have Sergei! We have- actually, yeah, just read the chapter! Thank you so much for all your support and I hope you all like it, especially mybigfatcat xxx

Javier let out a small shriek as he fell through the gap and landed in a pile of Force only knew what below. He scrambled out of it, taking in Sergei struggling with the door in vain, and a less than impressed Yuzuru and Keiji watching him. He met the Prince’s glare with his own as he moved discarded pieces of old droids off him.

“The garbage chute was a really wonderful idea,” he hissed, voice dripping with sarcasm. “What an incredible smell you’ve discovered, Your Highness.”

Yuzuru’s glare only darkened as Javier kept talking, holding up his blaster. “Let’s get out of here. Sergei, move away from the door.”

“No, wait—” Keiji tried, cut off by Javier blasting at the door.

Instead of doing anything useful, the shot ricocheted around the walls of the room. The four lowered their heads, trying to avoid being clipped by it, until it finally stopped in a pile of the garbage.

“Will you forget it? I already tried that! It’s magnetically sealed.” Keiji snapped, already on edge.

“Put that thing away or you’re going to get us all killed!” Yuzuru cut in, standing up to his full height and brushing off the front of his loose white clothes.

Javier’s glared hardened too on the prince and they entered an unspoken staring match of sorts. “Oh, absolutely Your Worship. Look, I had everything under control until you led us down here. It’s not going to take them very long to figure out what happened to us.”

Yuzuru sighed, still glaring at him as the bottom of his trousers snagged on a piece of metal. “Could be worse.”

From deep within the garbage compactor, something groaned like an old door being creaked open or the awakening of some huge prehistoric creature. Yuzuru swallowed thickly, Javier’s grip tightened on his blaster, and Keiji looked around almost frantically. Javier slowly turned his head back to Yuzuru, expression grim and eyes betraying him by showing his fear.

“It’s worse.”

“There’s something alive in here,” Keiji said softly. Yuzuru wasn’t looking at either of them; he was instead looking at the water pooled around their feet about half a foot deep. Keiji and Javier both moved very slowly in it, and the prince tried to watch the ripples.

“It’s your imagination kid.”

Keiji flinched back, looking into the water. “Something just moved past my leg, I know it did.”

All the men lowered their eyes to the water Keiji and Javier were standing in as the room went silent.

"Look!" Keiji pointed into the water, and both Javier and Yuzuru followed his hand. For a moment, a fleeting moment, there was something that looked like a brown tube of sorts that floated to the surface, but it was gone almost as soon as Keiji pointed it out, disappearing underneath the ripples of the water they were standing in. "Did you see that?"

"What?" Javier asked, thoroughly confused.

Sergei leaned on the door and smacked at it completely in vain. It didn't budge a millimeter. Across the room from him, Yuzuru almost instinctively climbed higher up the pile of discarded metal and other trash from inside the Death Star to get further away from the water that came to halfway up both Javier and Keiji's calves. The pair moved very cautiously in the water, and the surface was almost completely covered with broken pieces of boards and some of the other trash that slipped from the pile when Yuzuru tried to pull himself further away from the water. Javier tightened his grip on his blaster, and Keiji's eyes never left the water.

From within the water there came groaning noises, like an ancient beast being awoken from its slumber. Javier swallowed thickly and scanned the water in front of him. Behind both him and Keiji, an eye popped up and broke the surface, supported by a brown stem covered in slime and the water from inside the compartment. It surveyed the area before it vanished beneath the surface again, unseen by any of the men in the compartment.

Keiji swallowed again. His grip tightened on his blaster, and he locked eyes with Yuzuru momentarily. Something made the water around him ripple. Before he knew it, a tentacle wrapped around his right leg and Keiji was pulled firmly under the water with a yelp.

"Kid!"

"Keiji!"

Javier started shoving piles of the trash aside that was floating in the water, scrambling to try and find Keiji. The prince's eyes were wide as he scanned the area, searching for something, _anything_ to show where Keiji was. Sergei let out roars and shrieks of distress.

Keiji popped to the surface, body wrapped up in black and brown tentacles with a couple looping too tightly around his neck. Javier grabbed his arm and held him up as Yuzuru stumbled to hold out a broken staff.

"Keiji! Grab hold of this!"

"Shoot it would you?" Keiji gasped out, voice filled with the pain and strain of him trying to breathe with the creature wrapped around him. "My gun's jammed."

"Where?" Javier responded and, had it not been a life or death moment, Keiji would have rolled his eyes at the captain.

"Anywhere!"

Javier let go of him and started firing at the other, missing spectacularly all of Keiji as well as the tentacles on his body. Yuzuru slipped down the pile, still offering Keiji the staff to grab onto, but Keiji slipped back under again right by Javier's feet.

"Keiji!"

The captain started searching through the water desperately once again, moving the debris around and out of his way to try and find the younger man. The water around his legs started to bubble and ripple intensely, and he shuffled back. Unconsciously, he put himself between the prince and the ripples, and he held his blaster up firmly. Something metallic clattered around them, and Javier and Yuzuru both looked up and at the walls. Fear hung heavy in the air.

Keiji broke the surface, coughing and spluttering, but this time he wasn't covered in tentacles. Yuzuru nearly collapsed with relief.

"Grab him!" He shouted to Javier, who took Keiji's hand and hauled him to his feet. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Keiji responded honestly between coughs. "It just let go of me and disappeared." His brown, almost black, curls were sopping wet, and he firmly pushed them out of his face as he stood next to Javier. Both of their white stormtrooper uniform was dirtied with the filth from the chute, and Yuzuru's white robes were stained further.

Yuzuru stood to his full height and brushed his own hair off his slightly sweaty forehead, when he and the others all froze. The room creaked.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Javier tightened his grip on his gun, and Yuzuru swallowed down the fear and bile that was rising in his throat.

Something powered up in the background, and then the walls of the garbage chute started to close in on each other. Keiji and Javier looked around in horror.

"The walls are closing in!" Keiji gasped out.

Yuzuru picked up a long piece of broken _something_ and tried to turn it to brace the two walls. "Don't just stand there you two! Try and brace it with something!"

Javier put the blaster down next to the door and helped Yuzuru with the tubing. Keiji and Sergei, both in vain, started to shove at the walls themselves but were firmly pushed backwards.

"Wait a minute," Keiji reached around and pulled out the commlink. He shouted into it. "Miki! Come in, Miki! Miki!"

 

The other commlink lay discarded on the desk in the office overlooking the Millennium Falcon. The door to the office was blasted open, and a group of eight troopers marched into the room. One, slightly taller than the others, bumped his head on the doorway as they marched in, and the commander gestured to them to head into the room.

"Take over."

A tapping sound came from inside one of the cabinets, and the whole group forced open the doors. Miki and Sho-2 were hiding behind them, and Miki started talking quickly.

"They're madmen! They're heading for the prison level! If you hurry, you might catch them!"

The commander looked around at the others and gestured with his shoulder and blaster towards the door. "Follow me!"

All but one guard left the room, and the commander gave him a sharp nod before the group departed. "You stand guard."

Miki scooped up the now silent commlink and gestured to Sho-2 to follow her. She and the other droid moved towards the doorway where the stormtrooper guarding the exit eyed them sceptically. She jumped slightly before she cleared her throat.

"All this excitement has overrun the circuits in my counterpart here. If you don't mind, I'd like to take him down to maintenance."

"Alright," the guard said gruffly, gesturing to the droids down the hallway. Miki and Sho-2 couldn't get out of the room fast enough.

 

Yuzuru and Keiji both slipped on the walls as they inched ever closer together. Javier grabbed Yuzuru by the waist and lifted him up.

"Get up on top!"

"I can't!" The prince snapped as he slipped further down the rubble.

"Miki! Come in Miki! Where the hell is she? Miki!" Keiji held onto the commlink almost desperately. "Will you come in Miki?"

 

"They aren't here?" Miki asked almost in shock as she and Sho-2 looked at the Falcon from the alcove in the wall they were hidden in. The ship was still surrounded by guards, but there was no sign of Keiji, Javier, or the prince. "Something must have happened to them." Miki continued. "See if they've been captured."

Sho-2 plugged into the computer terminal and scanned the system, letting out little bleeps and beeps in response to Miki.

 

"One thing's for sure," Javier quipped as the walls got ever closer, "we're all going to be a lot thinner!"

As the room shook, Yuzuru once again slipped down from atop the pile of rubble and Javier hauled him back up.

"Get on top of it!"

"I'm trying!" He snapped back, trying to pull himself up as the piece of tubing they put between the walls snapped almost effortlessly.

 

"Thank heavens they haven't been captured and the Empire haven't found them. Where could they be?"

Sho-2 responded with snarky, almost sarcastic beeps, and Miki looked down at the commlink in her hand.

"Use the commlink? Oh! I forgot I turned it off." She raised her hand and turned it on before she spoke into it. "Are you there sir?"

 

"Miki?" Keiji gasped, raising the commlink as the walls were dangerously close. He could easily have reached out and placed a hand on each one with his palm flat.

"We've had some problems--"

"Will you shut up and listen to me? Shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level! Do you hear me?" Keiji let out a gasp as the not yet crushed garbage was pushed closer and closer together, with him and the others in the middle of it. "Shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level!"

Sergei's roar of horror echoed through the commlink, and Miki just stared at it in shock for a moment. Keiji kept shouting. "Shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level!"

"No! Shut them all down! Hurry Sho-2!"

Keiji grimaced as the garbage right around him was pushed closer towards him. Further up, Yuzuru and Javier were still fighting with the walls, trying to stop their unending approach. Sergei was banging on the door with his paws, letting out roars of terror.

With a final beep from Sho-2, another metallic noise echoed around the garbage chute. The walls stopped moving. Javier was the first to take it in and he let out a laugh of relief.

"What?" Keiji shouted before he too realised what had happened and started laughing too. Yuzuru managed to even crack a smile and chuckled very softly and lightly.

"Listen to them," Miki held the commlink out to Sho-2. Their laughter sounded like screams of pain down the communication device, "they're dying Sho-2. Curse my metal body. I wasn't fast enough! This is all my fault."

"We're alright!" Miki's head snapped up as Keiji's voice came through again. "We're alright Miki! You did great!"

Javier pulled Yuzuru into a tight hug and he helped the prince to his feet properly.

"Hey, open the pressure maintenance hatch on unit number... what number is this one?" Keiji spoke so fast down the commlink Miki struggled to keep up. "Unit number three two six three eight two seven!" Keiji relayed the numbers that Javier shouted to him, and Miki and Sho-2 asked them back to check they were correct.

 

 

Brian slipped down the deserted corridors of the Death Star, lightsabre in his hand, as he finally found the one of the places for the power loss to occur to deactivate the tractor beam. He slipped up the stairs and hid on one side of it where the controls were. In the intense silence, balancing on the edge of the ledge just above a huge chasm leading down into the Death Star, Brian held himself still as a small group of troopers stepped onto one of the ledges above him. He was hidden from view by the controls. Once they had passed, he lowered a lever slowly. The hum in the air lowered in pitch before he shuffled further around the controls and turned a knob. A red and blue line diminished and diminished until it eventually went to nothing, and Brian then let out a little sigh of relief.

 

The group tumbled out of the garbage chute, and Javier and Keiji both ditched the stormtrooper armour. Keiji swiped the belt from one of them and shook out his only damp now hair. Yuzuru straightened his own hair and grimaced at the newly added stains to his once crisp and clean white robes. Javier straightened his jacket before he picked up the blaster and glared at Yuzuru.

"So, if we just ignore anymore royal advice, we ought to be able to get out of here."

"Let's get moving then," Keiji agreed quickly, cutting off Yuzuru before another argument broke out between the captain and prince.

Something started whirring inside the abandoned garbage chute, and Sergei let out a roar of distress. He ran from it, and Javier watched him with a frown.

"Where are you going?" Sergei let out a growl in response and Javier rolled his eyes, raising his blaster.

"No, wait! They'll hear!" Yuzuru snapped, but Javier fired into the room anyway to shut up whatever the noise was. The prince rolled his eyes at the trio of incompetent idiots in front of him as the blaster bolt sound echoed around the hallway.

"Come here you big coward," Javier said, rolling his own eyes. Sergei refused. "Sergei, get over here."

"Listen," Javier glanced down and his eyebrows raised slightly. Yuzuru was right in front of him, glaring up at him with eyes burning with rage, "I don't know who you are, or where you came from, but from now on, you'll do as I tell you. Okay?" He spoke with a dangerously calm voice right to Javier before he started walking down the hallway behind Sergei.

"Look, Your Worshipfulness," Javier hissed as he followed Yuzuru with Keiji next to him, "let's get one thing perfectly clear. I take orders from just one person. Me."

"It's a wonder you're still alive then." Yuzuru retorted coldly before he sighed and sidestepped Sergei, speeding up. "And why is there a big walking carpet in my way?"

Javier shook his head at the prince as they followed him. "No reward is worth this. And that carpet is my friend and he has a name, Sweetheart!"

 

Brian looked up from the control panel at the sound of the imperial armour of Stormtroopers approaching him, and he tilted up one of the handles again on the side of the control panel to raise the pitch of the hum in the area. The group of six troopers paused by the entrance Brian had come through, blasters held up and ready.

“Do your reports. Regular reports please.” The commander said, and the group dispersed leaving two guards by the entrance. Brian paused and listened carefully for a moment.

“Do you know what’s going on?” One of the guards asked.

“Probably just another drill.”

Brian carefully shuffled around the edge of the control panel, holding onto the side of the tower of it, before he started to emerge on the side opposite to the two troopers. Raising a hand, a loud clattering from behind the two troopers stole their attention, allowing Brian to slip away from them undetected.

“What was that?”

“Eh, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

 

The group of four made their way along one of the corridors, and Javier’s face brightened with pride as he looked out one of the windows. There was his beloved Falcon, standing proud and surrounded by guards.

“There she is,” Javier sighed.

“Miki, you still with me?” Keiji asked down the commlink. “Do you copy?”

“Yes sir,” Miki’s voice crackled through to them.

“Are you safe?”

“For the moment. We’re in the main hanger across from the ship.”

Keiji looked out with a smile at the now comforting form of the Millennium Falcon. “We’re right above you. Stand by.”

As Keiji looked around them for any guards, and Javier adjusted his hold on the blaster, Yuzuru’s eyes widened at the sight of the Falcon. Used to diplomatic ships, it looked to him like the biggest piece of junk he’d ever seen.

“You came in that thing?” He asked Javier with half a smile and raised eyebrows. “You’re braver than I thought.”

“Nice,” Javier said with a chuckle, “come on.”

He took off down a corridor, and Yuzuru, Keiji, and Sergei all followed after him. After a while, they rounded a corner and met a small group of troopers.

“It’s them! Blast them—”

The commander was cut off by Javier shooting first, and, throwing caution to the wind, he chased after them as the group retreated. With his blaster raised, he shouted over his shoulder to Keiji and Yuzuru.

“Get back to the ship!”

Sergei followed Javier, and the pair were gone before Keiji or Yuzuru had time to respond.

“He certainly has courage,” Yuzuru said, shaking his head.

“Yeah, but what good will it do us if he gets himself killed?” He placed a hand on Yuzuru’s shoulder and turned him around. “Come on.” The pair then set off down the corridor in the other direction.

Javier let out almost an animalistic roar as he chased after the troopers down the corridor. They retreated and disappeared around a corner. Javier rounded it only to stop in his tracks. The room before him was filled with rows and rows of troopers; there were easily a hundred of them there. Javier danced out of the way of the blaster fire, taking a less straight line away from them as he ran back the way he had come.

Sergei watched the corridor with bated breath as rapid blaster fire hit the wall at the end. Javi had gone around there. His best friend Javi. Said man appeared out of a cloud of smoke, and both he and Sergei set off down the corridor as fast as they could go.

 

A couple of troopers chased after Yuzuru and Keiji, and the latter tried to aim for them as much as he could with his own blaster before he ushered the prince along. The pair turned right and gasped as they teetered on the edge of a compressed bridge.

“I think we took a wrong turn somewhere.” Keiji quipped, and Yuzuru held onto his arm to stop him from slipping and tumbling over the edge.

Blaster fire from behind them narrowly missed Yuzuru’s ear, and he slammed a hand on the controls to shut the door as quickly as he could.

“There’s no lock!”

Keiji swapped places with Yuzuru and blasted the controls to the door, destroying them. “That ought to hold it for a little while.”

“We’ve got to get across,” Yuzuru decided before he looked up and met Keiji’s eyes. “We need to find the controls that extend the bridge.”

Horror and realisation both hit Keiji, and he glanced over at the controls next to the door. The controls he had just blasted.

“I think I just blasted them.”

“They’re coming through!”

Both of them looked around themselves, trying to find something, _anything_ to help them. Keiji looked up at the tubes and supports hanging from the ceiling. Glancing down at the belt he’d swiped from the trooper uniform, and idea dawned on him.

Once again, another blaster bolt nearly hit Yuzuru, and he ducked to press himself against the wall as firmly as he could. Keiji drew his blaster and aimed at the troopers who had appeared in a doorway a level above them. He took out two of the troopers before he handed the blaster to the prince.

“Here, hold this.”

Yuzuru took it and, with a natural ease, he took aim instead at the troopers. Keiji fiddled with the grappling hook on the belt and withdrew as much of it as he could, all while trying not to get shot. The door behind them hissed slightly as it opened up to about ankle height. Yuzuru swallowed before he focused again.

“Here they come…”

Keiji threw the hook up, and it neatly wrapped around one of the supports on the ceiling. He looped an arm around Yuzuru’s waist, and the other held onto him tightly. The prince placed a light kiss to Keiji’s cheek.

“Good luck.”

Keiji glanced at him for a moment before he shook his head and jumped, pulling both of them across the chasm. They landed safely on the other side, and Keiji discarded the hook. Just as the troopers crawled underneath the doorway, Yuzuru and Keiji took off running down the next corridor and out of their sights.

 

As another group of troopers ran down a corridor, with talks of chasing after a split-up group, Brian slipped from shadow to shadow back towards the Falcon. Pausing for a moment and frowning, he withdrew his lightsabre and carried on down the hallway.

 

Javier and Sergei both exchanged a look as they carried on down the hallway with almost an entire legion of troopers behind them, ducking and dodging the blaster shots.

“Close the blast doors!” One of the troopers ordered.

The huge black metallic doors in front of Sergei and Javier started to shut, and the pair picked up their paces. Javier fired backwards and jumped through them just before they closed, separating him and Sergei from the army.

“Open the blast doors! Open the blast doors!”

 

With his hood up, Brian turned down yet another deserted corridor and carried on. Everything was too silent. Too quiet. Too calm. The Force rippled, and he paused as he turned a corner and stared. There, before him, was the imposing form of Darth Vader. In his black armour, his red lightsabre blade contrasted it sharply. Brian wordlessly ignited his own blue sabre as the other approached him.

“I’ve been waiting for you Brian Orser. We meet again, at last.” Vader raised his sabre in front of him, and Brian held his firmly too. “The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner. Now, I am the master.”

“Only a master of evil, Darth.” Brian responded, raising his sabre. The two clashed, creating small sparks as they hit.

They started duelling, clashing sabres as they each made their attacks and then blocked the next. They moved around each other almost like they’d practiced a dance before and were falling into a normal rhythm once more.

“Your powers are weak, old man.” Vader quipped, but Brian only gave him a knowing smile.

“You can’t win, Vader. If you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”

They clashed sabres again. The pair weren’t moving fast, but they were still blocking each other’s attacks.

“You should not have come back,” Vader said in almost a bored, level tone.

Brian only responded non verbally with another attack that the other easily parried, and they continued their dance of sorts together.

 

Sergei and Javier pressed themselves up against one of the walls, looking into the main hanger and at the ship. Still, surrounding her, were what looked like hundreds of troopers still. Javier rolled his eyes.

“Didn’t we just leave this party?”

Yuzuru and Keiji stumbled along the corridor and pressed themselves against the wall too next to the others. Javier raised an eyebrow at the pair.

“What happened to you?”

“We, uh, we ran into some old friends.” Yuzuru responded, watching the Falcon too.

“Ship alright?” Keiji asked.

“Seems alright if we could get to it. Just hope the old man got the tractor beam out of commission.”

 

The duel between Brian and Vader caught the attention of the troopers, and they all moved from around the ship to support their leader. From the point of view of Miki, and the group of four, the ship was completely unguarded.

“Look,” Keiji whispered.

“Come on Sho-2. We’re going.” Miki decided, and the two droids set off towards the ship.

“Now’s our chance, go!” Javier hissed, and Yuzuru and Keiji didn’t stop to listen for a second instruction.

They all approached the ship, and the droid shuffled onto it first. Keiji got distracted, frowning as he watched where the troopers went.

“Brian?”

Instead of running towards the ship, Keiji instead watched the fight. Behind him, Javier frowned and ushered the prince towards the ship with Sergei behind him.

With his sabre locked with Vader’s, Brian glanced at Keiji with a little smile. He raised an eyebrow at the man before him and turned off his sabre, withdrawing in the blue blade, before he closed his eyes. Vader swung for him with his own red blade, hitting the edge of his cloak. As soon as the sabre touched Brian, the old man vanished and his cloak crumpled on the floor.

“No!” Keiji shouted, a mix of shock and horror on his face.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “No!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya again everyone! Another chapter of Star wars is here for you! There's a lot that happens here and I think there will probably (probably) be one more chapter after this (we'll see how it goes). There's a lot that happens here, including a big set up for the next chapter. Thank you so much for reading, big thank yous as always to mybigfatcat, and honestly I'm so excited to be able to move onto the next part of this series soon!!! Enjoy!

“No!”

Keiji’s shout stole the attention of all the troopers who had previously been distracted by the lightsabre duel, and all hell broke loose. A hail of blaster fire came down onto the Millennium Falcon and Sergei shoved Miki and Sho-2 up onto the ship. Yuzuru ducked out of the way as both Keiji and Javier shot back, taking down troopers as they moved around out of the way of the blasts themselves. Vader, behind the troopers, poked at the cloak and lightsabre on the floor that lay in a crumpled heap. Behind the mask, his expression was unreadable, however he was poking at the cloak almost like he was searching for Brian.

“Come on!” Javier shouted at Keiji from the gangway of his ship. Further up it, Yuzuru ducked yet another laser blast that just barely missed his ear.

“Keiji, come on! We need to go! Come on!”

Javier shoved the prince up into the ship and out of the way of a blast that would have hit him.

“Before it’s too late Keiji, come on!”

“Blast the door kid!”

Keiji hit the control panel for the door as Vader approached the blast doors. They shut firmly in front of him, keeping him separated firmly from the group by the Falcon. The troopers still fired at them, even as Javier and Yuzuru ran inside the ship.

_Run Keiji, run!_ A voice so similar to Brian’s sounded in his head, and Keiji followed the advice as though the wise older man was by his side, telling him what to do in that moment. Javier settled in the cockpit next to Sergei as the other was already fiddling with the controls.

“I hope that old man got the tractor beam out of commission or this will be a really short trip. Okay, punch it Sergei!”

Sergei pulled a lever and the ship backed up rapidly out of the hanger and into space once again. The troopers watched, almost awestruck, as the Falcon was growing smaller and smaller from the Death Star. Javier and Sergei exchanged a look as lights started to flash around them and little alarms started going off.

“We’re coming up on their sentry ships. Angle the deflector shield and try to hold them off while I power up the main guns.”

Back in the main seating area of the ship, Keiji traced the tabletop with his fingertips, eyes downcast. Yuzuru placed his blanket over his shoulders and sat down next to him, half leaning on him.

“I can’t believe he’s gone,” Keiji mumbled, and Yuzuru patted his arm.

“There wasn’t a-anything you could have done, Keiji.” He swallowed, clearing his throat after the crack. Keiji gave him a strange look, but Yuzuru turned away before Keiji could read much more into his expression.

Both of them looked up when Javier stumbled into the area and locked eyes with Keiji. “Come on, buddy, no time for moping. We’re not out of this yet.”

Keiji stood, following after Javier as Yuzuru slipped into the cockpit and stole Javier’s seat. The pilot and Keiji climbed a ladder into separate chambers, each one with a seat and controls to one of the main guns of the Falcon. They sorted their headsets out, securing them properly so they could communicate with each other as well as Sergei and Yuzuru, before they got used to the controls.

“You in kid? Stay sharp.”

Both men reached around to flick at the controls on the walls, powering up the computer screens on the controls of their guns. In the cockpit, Yuzuru glanced up out of the main window with Sergei next to him before the pair exchanged a look. The Falcon shook with blaster hits as Sergei angled the deflector shield as best as he could.

“Here they come,” Yuzuru relayed as four of the same fighters as before came into view of the cockpit.

Each of the four fired green lasers at the Falcon, aiming for some of her vital areas. Sergei moved the shield around, watching their movements on the computer. Javier and Keiji both chased after them with lines of laser blasts, aiming for two of the four ships. The lights cut out in the main area, plunging both Miki and Sho-2 into darkness for a few seconds. On Keiji’s computer screen were two ships, and he fired at both of them using the aiming devices as much as possible. He wrinkled his nose in irritation with himself as he missed again and again.

“They’re coming in too fast!”

Yuzuru looked around him at the controls and out of the window as Sergei flicked switches and moved dials around him almost constantly. Keiji was right. The ships were almost impossible to watch; one millisecond they were in view of the main window and the next they were gone to where the computers and scanners couldn’t pick them up. The ship shook, and a blast cause part of the ceiling next to Miki and Sho-2 to explode with a little cloud of smoke.

“We’ve lost lateral controls!” Yuzuru relayed, glancing back at the droids. “Sho-2, see what you can do?”

“Don’t worry about it! She’ll hold together.” Javier said stubbornly before he lowered his voice and spoke to the Falcon. “Hear me, baby. Hold together.”

Sho-2, following Yuzuru’s words, put out the fire that just started on several exposed wires. Keiji and Javier, up in the towers manning the main guns, still chased after the ships with their laser blasts. Javier’s eyes narrowed slightly as his eyes flicked rapidly between the computer screen and the window in front of him. A ship tried to almost head on assault them, but Javier was too quick and reduced them to dust and gas.

“Ha ha! Take that you imperial slugs!”

Keiji spotted one on his own scanner and he whipped his gun around, aiming for them. They had no time at all to react; they were reduced to dust and gas once again in seconds.

“I got him!” Keiji’s eyes lit up. “I got him!” He shouted back to Javier.

“Great kid! But don’t get cocky!”

“There are still two more of them out there!” Yuzuru shouted to both of them as the ship was still thrown around by laser blasts. Sergei moved yet more things around him, and Yuzuru gave up trying to understand what the wookie was doing.

Javier adjusted his headset slightly and moved around with the controls. He and Keiji took hold of the controls of their guns with both hands, looking at their computer screens once again. They went back to the old game of being a fraction of a second too late with their laser blasts as they chased after the two remaining ships. Javier switched something on the wall as Keiji gritted his teeth and squeezed the triggers like his life depended on it. The ship in front of him exploded, and Javier smirked when it came up on his computer screen too.

“Nice job kid,” he mumbled before he focused again on the final one. He couldn’t leave the score 2-1 to Keiji after all.

Keiji missed the final ship as it ducked and weaved between his laser blasts, but Javier was there. Looking between the computer screen and the window, he fired and hit his mark. The final imperial fighter exploded, and he dared to relax in his seat, taking off his headset.

“We did it!” Keiji shouted, taking off his own one too and giving Javier a smile down the corridor.

“They did it.” Yuzuru relaxed into Javier’s seat before he pushed himself up and hugged Sergei. “And you did it too.”

“Help!” Miki shrieked out, covered in a tangle of loose wires that had come out during the fight. “I think I’m melting! This is all your fault, Sho-2!”

Sho-2 just beeped at her, letting out a stream of what sounded like giggles, before he helped. The Falcon set off into deeper space uninterrupted.

* * *

 

Back on the Death Star, Arutyunyan and Vader stood before the viewing window, watching as the Falcon made her escape.

“Are they away?”

“They have just made the jump into hyperspace.”

“You’re sure the homing beacon is secure aboard their ship, aren’t you Vader?” He asked, voice as cold as deep space and Yuzuru’s cell had been. The other nodded, and Rafael inhaled sharply. “I’m taking an awful risk, Vader. It had better work.”

“It will. They will go straight to the Rebel Base, and then we will crush the Rebellion.”

* * *

 

In the Falcon, Yuzuru sank back into Javier’s seat as the pilot made his way into the cockpit. Javier raised an eyebrow at the prince and half smiled as he started to take off his flying gloves. Sergei left the cockpit quickly as Javier started talking.

“Not a bad bit of rescuing, huh?” He sank down into the co-pilot seat Sergei had just vacated. “You know, sometimes I amaze even myself.”

“That doesn’t sound too hard,” Yuzuru fixed him with a level look before he sighed, shaking his head a little. “They let us go. It’s the only explanation for the ease of our escape.”

Javier choked. “Easy? You call that easy?”

Exhaustion seeped into Yuzuru’s voice. “They’re tracking us.”

“Not this ship, Your Worshipful-ness.” Javier raised his eyebrows at him.

Yuzuru sighed and rubbed at his forehead. “At least the information in Sho-2 is still intact. We’d be dead if it wasn’t.”

“What’s so important? What’s he carrying?” Javier leaned on the central computer, watching Yuzuru across the cockpit.

The prince looked across at him with a sigh. “The entire technical readouts of that battle station.” He retorted somewhat sharply, and Javier raised his eyebrows in surprise and shock. “I just hope that, when the data is analysed, a weakness can be found. It’s not over yet.”

“It is for me, sweetheart.” Javier pointed at the other firmly, leaning closer to him. “Look, I’m not in this for your revolution, and I’m definitely not in it for you, Prince. I expect to be well paid for this. I’m in it for the money.”

“You needn’t worry about your reward,” Yuzuru hissed, eyes hardening and narrowing. “If money is all that you love, then that’s what you’ll receive.”

Before Javier had a chance to comment, Yuzuru was on his feet. He bumped lightly into Keiji in the doorway, and he cleared his throat, glancing back at Javier.

“Your friend is quite a mercenary. I wonder if he really cares about anything, or anybody.”

With that, Yuzuru left the room with the loose, white fabric of his clothes fluttering around his legs. Keiji and Javier both watched him go, and Keiji shook his head in confusion.

“I care.”

Keiji took the seat Yuzuru had just vacated, and Javier fiddled with several switches and dials just to amuse himself and avoid looking at the other. Keiji looked at the pilot, leaning on the computer too.

“So. What do you think of him, Javier?”

“I’m trying not to, kid.” He jabbed at the computer, frowning at the coordinates Yuzuru had given them.

“Good,” Keiji nodded slowly, looking out of the window and away from Javier.

“Still,” the pilot continued, “he’s got a lot of spirit.” Keiji slowly met Javier’s eyes and the other shrugged. “I don’t know. What do you think? Do you think a prince, and a guy like me…?”

“No.” Keiji said firmly, shaking his head as a laugh died in his throat. He then swallowed and looked away from Javier awkwardly.

The captain just smiled widely and turned back to the dials and buttons in front of him. The Falcon made her way through hyperspace right to where Yuzuru told them to go: a bright red planet with swirling clouds making it look like scoured red bread with an orange crust. The nav computers took them to the far side where several moons were gathered, including the largest one it led them to. It was clear, even from space, that the area was mostly covered in forest, and Yuzuru and Sergei both returned to the cockpit as they started their landing approach.

“Identify yourselves,” a voice crackled through the system, and Yuzuru all but shoved Javier out of the way.

“I’ve got this,” he explained to the captain who just rolled his eyes. “This is Yuzuru Hanyu from Alderaan requesting permission to land.”

The sharp intake of breath down the line wasn’t lost, and the Falcon was almost immediately granted permission to land in the main hanger, hidden deep in the side of a mountain. The group climbed out and were ushered onto a transport inside quickly, with Yuzuru and Sho-2 as the main priorities.

The small transport made its way through another hanger, full of X-wing fighters and people in the Rebellion uniform lined the walls. Yuzuru dared to smile as their transport stopped and he jumped off to almost immediately be enveloped in a hug.

“You’re safe,” an older man said softly, holding Yuzuru close and rubbing his back. “When we heard about Alderaan,” a shadow passed over Yuzuru’s face, “we feared the worst.”

Yuzuru cleared his throat and nodded slowly as the others climbed off the transport behind him. “We have no time for sorrows, Commander.” The pair started walking off, leaving the others to follow them out of pure confusion. “You must use the information in this Sho-2 unit,” he gestured to where Sho-2 was half hidden behind Miki, “to plan the attack. It’s our only hope. And the Empire knows we’re here.”

The commander nodded with a sigh, and he kept one arm firmly around Yuzuru for comfort. “Too much was sacrificed for this information, Yuzuru.”

“Then we need to make it worth it, and not let those sacrifices be in vain.”

Sho-2 was connected up to a computer in one of the main rooms, and he started to display the information on the Death Star. The crews watched almost in awe as the intricate details of the whole base was displayed on a screen right before their eyes. The technological terror was broken down into ordinary systems the Rebellion were used to, and Sho-2 scanned the technology for a flaw, as did the equipment of the Rebellion.

* * *

 

The Death Star came out of hyperspace, following the homing beacon aboard the Falcon, and spotted the red planet. In the main meeting room, Arutyunyan and Vader were waiting for a message when a call across the communicator came up. Arutyunyan pressed the button on the control panel, face set in a serious and intense frown.

“Yes?”

“We are approaching the planet Yavin. The Rebel base is on a moon on the far side. We are preparing to orbit the planet.”

Arutyunyan nodded, and looked up, locking eyes with the cold mask of Darth Vader. His mechanical, ventilated breathing was the only response that Arutyunyan got.

* * *

 

Rebels gathered in a cramped meeting room. Most were wearing the orange jumpsuits of the pilots with orange harnesses covering their chests, however Keiji had slipped in to take a seat at the back. Javier and Sergei leaned around the door, and Yuzuru was nearer the front next to the commander who still kept an arm around him for comfort. Other commanding officers were decked out in brown uniforms and were scattered around the room; Yuzuru was the main one wearing white alone.

“The battle station is heavily shielded, and carries a fire power greater than half the star fleet.” A very elderly man started pacing at the front before the display Sho-2 was providing. “Its defences are designed around a large, full scale assault. A small, one-man fighter, should be able to penetrate the outer defence.” The screen changed, zooming in on some of the details on the station.

“Pardon me for asking sir,” one man in orange piped up, “but what good are snub fighters going to be against that?”

“Well, the Empire doesn’t consider a small, one-man fighter to be much of a threat, or they’d have made a tighter defence. An analysis of the plans, provided by Prince Yuzuru,” the prince bowed his head to the man speaking and firmly looked away from the others in the room as the commander held him closer, “has demonstrated a weakness in the battle station. The approach will not be easy.” The screen changed once again, and the man speaking pointed to the screen showing a metallic trench of sorts. “You’re required to manoeuvre straight down this trench, and skim the surface, until this point. The target area is only two meters wide. It’s a small, thermal exhaust port that’s right below the main port.”

Ripples of conversation ran through the room, and Yuzuru dared to glance over at Javier. The captain rolled his eyes with a sigh and shook his head at Sergei. When the speaking died down, the elderly man continued.

“The shaft leads directly to the main reactor system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the station. Only a precise hit will set up a chain reaction. The shaft is ray shielded, so you’ll have to use proton torpedoes.”

“That’s impossible,” the man sitting next to Keiji scoffed, “even for a computer.”

“It’s not impossible,” Keiji cut in. “I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home. They’re not much bigger than two meters.”

“Any questions?” the man in charge asked, and only a light ripple of speech ran through the crowd of rouges. No questions came out of it so he nodded to them. “Then man your ships, and may the Force be with you.”

* * *

 

“Orbiting the moon at maximum velocity. The Rebel Base will be in range in thirty minutes.”

“This will be a day long remembered.” Vader said almost triumphantly to Tarkin. “It has first seen the end of Orser. It will soon see the end of the Rebellion.”

* * *

 

The group dispersed, and Keiji was given a rouge uniform to wear as well as a number. Miki shuffled out with him to the main hanger, as calls of “All fighters, man your stations!” echoed throughout the hanger. Keiji stopped and sighed as he saw Sergei and Javier loading cases of credits onto the transport, no doubt all from Yuzuru for saving his life.

“So,” Keiji approached him and raised an eyebrow at the captain, Rebel fighter helmet tucked under his arm, “you got your reward and you’re just leaving then?”

“That’s right, yeah,” Javier said, voice getting a little defensive. “I’ve got some old debts I need to pay off with this stuff. Even if I didn’t, you don’t think I’d be foolish enough to stick around here, do you?” He loaded another case onto the transport before he turned and tilted his head at Keiji. “Why don’t you come with us? You’re pretty good in a fight. We could use you.”

“Oh, come on.” Keiji shook his head at Javier like he couldn’t believe what the other was saying. “Why don’t you take a look around, huh? You know what’s about to happen, what they’re up against. They could use a great pilot like you, and yet you’re turning your back on them.”

“What good’s a reward if you aren’t around to use it?” Javier quipped. “Besides, attacking that battle station isn’t my idea of courage. More like… well… suicide.”

“You know what happened to Alderaan—”

“Yeah, which is why I’m getting out of here.”

“And you’re going to put Yuzuru through that again?”

“It’s his choice to stay,” Javier shrugged, “and I’m not making it for him. He’s a grown up, barely, he can do it himself.”

Keiji rolled his eyes. “Right. Sure. Well, take care of yourself Javier. I guess that’s what you’re best at, isn’t it?”

Keiji shook his head and made his way towards his X-wing when Javier watched him go for a moment.

“Hey, Keiji.”

The other stopped and looked back over his shoulder.

“May the Force be with you.”

Keiji half smiled before he carried on walking, disappearing into the sea of people wearing orange. Sergei let out a little roar that shook Javier out of his daydream and back to reality. He started moving the credits back onto the transport and shook his head.

“What are you looking at? I know what I’m doing.”

* * *

 

R2 and Sho-2 units were being placed into X-wings, and Keiji’s beloved Sho-2 D2 was one of the ones near his ship. He made his way over, ducking in and around other ships to try and make his way towards his own. The command squad, including Yuzuru, passed him, and the prince gestured to them to wait for him.

“Keiji?” he asked softly. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh, it’s Javier,” he shook his head and pushed some of the hair out of his eyes. “I don’t know, Yuzuru, I honestly thought he’d change his mind.”

Yuzuru sighed and shrugged. “Listen he… he’s got to choose his own path. No one else can choose it for him. I just hope he doesn’t come to regret his decision.”

Keiji shrugged and looked down at his feet. “I… I only wish Brian were here.”

“Orser-san?” Yuzuru asked quietly. “I… I would have liked to meet him. I would have liked to be able to say thank you for everything he did for me and my father. Still, we have to look on and work hard for the future so that the sacrifices of the past are not in vain.”

Keiji still looked unconvinced. Yuzuru leaned in and gave him a light kiss on the cheek before he patted his shoulder. “For good luck.” He then smiled and turned back to the command squad, leaving Keiji alone once again to make his way towards his X-wing.

“Hey, Keiji!”

Keiji turned and his face brightened with a smile. “Biggs!”

Both men hugged, laughing.

“How’d you get here?”

“Long story.”

“Will you be up there?”

“Oh yeah, I’ll be right up there with you and Biggs, have I got stories to tell you—”

“Takahashi,” the leader of the assault looked at him and scanned him with a slight frown. “Are you sure you can handle this? It’s a pretty intense scene for your first battle with us.”

“Sir,” Biggs cut in, “Keiji is the best pilot in the Outer Rim territory.”

The leader raised an eyebrow and smiled at them both. “You’ll do alright.”

“Thank you, sir! I’ll try!” Keiji soaked up the praise like a sponge.

“I’ve got to get aboard,” Biggs said with a sigh, “but we’ll hear all your stories when we get back, alright?”

“Alright!” Keiji grinned and climbed up the ladder towards his cockpit. “And hey, I told you I’d make it someday.”

“It’ll be like old times Keiji; they’ll never stop us.”

“You know,” the two men securing Sho-2 in to the droid space just behind the cockpit raised an eyebrow at Keiji, “this Sho-2 unit of yours seems awfully beaten up. Do you want a new one?”

“Not on your life. That little droid and I have been through a lot together. You alright there Sho-2?”

Sho-2 squeaked and beeped at Keiji in response as he swung himself up into the cockpit of his ship and secured his helmet on.

“Good!”

“Hang on Sho-2, you’ve got to come back!” Miki pleaded from on the ground by Keiji’s ship. “You wouldn’t want my life to get boring, would you?”

Yuzuru rushed over to the ship to pull the golden droid back with him towards the command squad. The last few pilots got ready as others left, taking off for the battle ahead.

_Keiji, the Force will be with you_ Brian’s voice seemed to say.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the X-wing fighters left the moon of Yavin, taking off towards the red planet that the Death Star was circling, Yuzuru and the rest of the command team weaved their way through the room full of boards and communication screens to look at the main chart displaying their location in relation to the Death Star. The prince swallowed, biting his lip lightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are, finally at the end of the first part of this trilogy! Sorry this chapter is soooooooo long and so bitty, but that's what the end of the film is like. Sorry! I couldn't find a good place to stop it either, so yeah, sorry about the length! And sorry I made the ending a little less happy hehehe. I'll be working on the second part of the trilogy soon, I promise.
> 
> This is especially for mybigfatcat, who is the most wonderful, amazing person ever. Thank you for everything, just thank you. And I really hope you enjoy this <3
> 
> Without further ado, let's get ready to save the galaxy!

As the X-wing fighters left the moon of Yavin, taking off towards the red planet that the Death Star was circling, Yuzuru and the rest of the command team weaved their way through the room full of boards and communication screens to look at the main chart displaying their location in relation to the Death Star. The prince swallowed, biting his lip lightly.

“Standby alert. The Death Star is approaching. Estimated time to firing range: fifteen minutes.” A voice announced over the intercom.

The commander placed a hand on Yuzuru’s back gently, mindful of his time spent on the station. “It’s alright,” he reassured the younger quickly, “it’s going to be alright.”

Around them, people with headsets on spoke rapidly into their microphones. They tapped at the screens, pointing things out to each other and trying to relay the information to the pilots. Let by the Red Leader, the fighters flew past the red planet of Yavin towards the station. It looked terrible; shrouded in darkness it was there in space like an intense, ominous moon, seemingly luring them towards a terrible fate.

“All wings report in,” the leader’s voice crackled through the headsets of the others, and Keiji listened for the right place to pipe up with the calling code he’d been given.

“Red ten, standing by.”

“Red seven, standing by.”

“Red three, standing by.”

“Red six, standing by.”

“Red nine, standing by.”

“Red two, standing by!”

“Little enthusiastic there, Nathan,” the leader’s laugh made it through everyone’s headsets, interrupting the roll-call and diffusing the tension a little. Red two, Nathan, blushed pink and cleared his throat.

“Red two, standing by.”

“Red eleven, standing by.”

“Red five, standing by.” Keiji cut in as the last one, glancing behind him to check that Sho-2 was still secure, still alright.

“Lock S-foils in attack positions,” the leader instructed, and the wings of the ships split into the X-shape they were named after, separating from the line they had formed. “We’re travelling through the magnetic field! Hold tight. Put your deflectors on double front.”

Keiji’s ship bounced around as he made his way through the magnetic field, bouncing a little in his seat, and Sho-2 let out squeaks and pops of surprise. Following the red lights on the back of the others’ ships, he made his way towards the Death Star.

“Look at the size of that thing!” Nathan said to himself in awe, unintentionally sending the message down the radio.

“Bet you’ve never heard that before, have you Nate?” Red ten’s voice went through everyone’s headsets. Keiji could almost feel poor Nathan’s blush.

“Cut the chatter Red two!” The leader brought them all back to reality, gently but firmly, “Accelerate to attack speed!”

Nathan followed the leader as they approached the main trench they were aiming for. Like a complex dance around each other, the two ships moved in and out of each other easily. More ships joined their patterns, growing ever closer to the looming giant before them. Keiji slipped his ship into the formation, watching the others as they moved like a well-oiled machine together.

“This is it boys!” the leader said again, bouncing around in his cockpit.

“Red leader, this is Gold leader.”

“I copy Gold leader.”

“We’re starting for the target shaft now.”

“You’re in position. I’m going to cut across the axis and try to draw their fire.”

The x-wings, one at a time, moved across space towards the dull silvery surface of the Death Star. Gun towers aimed at the ships, firing green lasers at them that the pilots dodged and weaved around as they got closer to the trench. The x-wings distracted them, drawing their fire away from the Gold group, and they pulled up before going for another pass. The guns followed the x-wings and Red group, allowing the Gold group in closer to the station.”

“Heavy fire boss! Coming in at 23 degrees.”

“I see it,” the leader’s voice was clear to everyone back in the control station, and Yuzuru forced his shoulders down. Tension crept into his back, and Miki next to him was practically falling apart with worry. The commander kept a gentle hand on Yuzuru’s back to comfort and ground him as they listened. “Stay low!”

The ships weaved in and out of the rapid hail of blaster fire, ducking and diving between green lasers. Officials on the Death Star ran around the control rooms to their stations in the control and gun towers. Nathan finished his pass and signalled to Keiji.

“This is Red five. I’m going in!”

Keiji spammed the blaster triggers in his x-wing, firing out lasers rapidly. They collided with the metal armour of the Death Star, producing sparks and damage inside as he brought his own hail of fire down on the station. He severely misjudged the situation and was soon caught in his own mess of sparks and smoke.

“Keiji! Pull up!” Someone, Keiji guessed Nathan but he wasn’t quite sure; his hearing was altered by the adrenaline, shouted to him via the headset. He moved the controls and quickly pulled his ship up and out of the other side of the sparks and smoke.

“You alright there, kid?” Red three’s voice crackled over his headset.

“I got a little cooked,” Keiji glanced behind him to check Sho-2 was still alright, “but I’m okay.”

The two ships joined the others in formation and went back to causing physical damage to the surface of the station as well as distracting and drawing the attention of the controllers of the gun towers. Strom troopers ran through the hallways of the Death Star, and two commanders stepped out of the gun tower control rooms. One all but ran up to Vader, ignoring the blaring of the alarms around them.

“Lord Vader, we’ve counted thirty rebel ships. But they’re so small that they’re avoiding our turbo lasers in the towers.”

Vader breathed mechanically and calmly for a moment, drawing out the nerves of the commander, before he finally spoke up. “We will then have to destroy them ship to ship. Get the crews to their fighters.”

The commander nodded and left, and more men rushed around him running to ships, control towers, and to survey the damage cause on the surface of the station by the fighters. In their frustration at the ships easily avoiding their fire, the gunfire increased.

“Watch yourself boys. There’s a lot of fire coming from the right side of that deflection tower.” The leader spoke up.

“I’m on it!” Keiji responded.

“I’m going in. Cover me Red six.” Red three spoke up, and the two ships took off towards the Star, blasting at the surface and causing explosion after explosion inside.  Doors were blown in. Troopers were sent flying. Walls and doors crumbled, setting on fire and filling hallways with smoke.

“I’ve got a problem here,” Red six spoke up.

“Eject!”

“No, I can hold it.”

“Pull up!” Red three snapped.

“No, I’m alright!”

A green laser caught the tail light of Red six’s ship and the whole thing burst into flames, exploding and sprinkling pieces of debris into the vacuum of space. The other Rebel pilots all gulped as the tension in the air got thicker. The fight was real now. Properly real.

 

“The Rebel base will be in firing range in seven minutes.”

Arutyunyan stood, looking out of the same viewing platform he had forced Yuzuru to watch his home planet be destroyed from, with his shoulders back and head held high. The brilliant red of Yavin stood out against the darkness of space in front of him, teasing him by blocking the view of the moon that the Rebel Base was on. He glared at the planet, almost as if he was glaring at the prince.

“I promised you a termination, Prince Yuzuru,” he muttered to himself.

Outside, the fight raged on. The ships moved, dodging the green lasers. Keiji spun his, turning over himself several times before he straightened out and followed the other ships in formation.

_Keiji, trust your feelings_ Brian’s voice echoed in his head. Keiji blinked before he tapped the side of his helmet and readied himself for the next part of the battle. More of the Death Star was destroyed before him and he couldn’t help but chuckle. His smile, however, died very quickly.

“Squad leaders,” one of the intelligence people back in the control room spoke into their headset, “we’ve picked up a new group of signals. Enemy fighters coming your way.”

Yuzuru flinched, grateful for the comforting hand of the commander keeping him sane, and Keiji spoke up into his headset.

“My scope’s negative. I don’t see anything?”

“Pick up your visual scanner.” The Red leader told him and, as Keiji did that, he kept talking. “Here they come.”

The TIE fighters came from behind them and soon the intensity of the battle sharply increased. The formations became much less organised and more disordered.

“Careful! You’ve got one on your tail!” The leader relayed through the headset, trying to get within range to take them out.

“I’m hit!” Red nine went down, causing damage to the Death Star as it did before the dust and debris joined the vacuum.

“You’ve picked one up Biggs, watch it!” Keiji increased the power to get closer to the fighter on his friend’s tail.

“I can’t see him,” Red six responded. “He’s tight on my tail. I can’t shake him.”

His ship ducked and dodged the green lasers that nearly clipped the wings and edges of his ship.

“I’ll be right there,” Keiji sped up behind and narrowed his eyes a little. Sticking out eh tip of his tongue, he concentrated and then squeezed both triggers as hard as he could, obliterating the TIE fighter.

 

On the station, Vader approached a hanger bay and gestured to two other men. “Several fighters have broken off from the main group. Come with me. Now.” The three of them set off into separate ships.

 

“Pull in!”

“Watch your back, Keiji, watch your back. More fighters are coming in.”

Keiji ducked and dodged the lasers, trying desperately to shake off the fighter stuck to his tail. One of the green lasers clipped part of his tail light, bringing up a flashing light inside the cockpit.

“I’m hit but not bad,” he relayed to the command centre, causing Yuzuru to rub his forehead, “Sho-2, see what you can do with it?”

The little droid beeped his affirmation, fiddling with the damaged sections and moving some of the wires around.

“Hang on back there Sho,” Keiji added, moving so that the lasers didn’t hit the beloved droid instead.

“Red six, can you see Red five?”

“Red five, where are you?”

“I can’t shake him!”

“I’m on him Keiji, hold on,” Nathan cut in, coming in from above to get on the TIE fighter’s tail. Keiji focused on not getting hit by the green lasers, and Nathan urged his ship ever faster until the other came in range and he blasted it with neat precision.

Keiji let out a sigh of relief, almost in perfect synchronisation with Yuzuru. “Thanks Nathan.”

“Good aim Nate!”

“Red leader, this is Gold leader. We’re starting our attack run.”

“Copy that!”

The Gold group entered the attack trench, locked onto their target already as they sped along the trench. They ducked and weaved through it, around the green lasers threatening them in the limited space.

“Switch all power to front deflector screen.”

The gun towers moved, clipping ships with their blasts but not enough to cause any serious damage that their R2 units couldn’t help with and fix.

“The Death Star will be in range in about five minutes.”

Yuzuru and the Commander both exchanged a look.

“Maybe we should start the evacuation procedures, Your Highness?”

Yuzuru chewed his lip. “It’s risky, but our fleet need all the support we can offer them. We don’t really have a choice. We can risk death here, or choose it for them by running early.”

The commander nodded and the pair went back to looking at the maps and listening to the comments from the pilots over their headsets.

“Switch to targeting computer.”

As the gold team kept approaching, the green lasers that had initially been surrounding them vanished. Stopped completely.

“The guns. They’ve stopped? Why?”

“Keep your eyes open. Watch for enemy fighters, men.”

“They’re coming in! Three marks at two-ten.”

Two TIE fighters flanked another rounder style ship, moving in an arrowhead style formation through space towards the Rebel fighters. Vader himself manned the middle ship, communicating to the others in the ships next to him.

“I’ll take them myself. Cover me.”

Vader locked on easily to the first ship, taking out the first gold pilot in an explosion of green lasers and red sparks. The other two looked behind them.

“It’s no good! I can’t manoeuvre here!”

“Stay on target.”

“We’re too close!”

“Stay on target.”

The younger gold pilot who wasn’t the leader fidgeted in his seat uncomfortably, unable to stop looking back as the ships got ever closer to his tail. Vader’s locked onto him and the green lasers inevitably came, reducing his ship to nothing in an explosion of sparks and dust that soon dissipated in the vacuum of space.

“Gold five to red leader: we’ve lost two of them.”

“Copy Gold leader.”

“It came from behind,” as the gold pilot spoke, the sharp aim of Vader’s lasers hit the rear of his shit and turned it to nothing but dust into space. Keiji glanced out of the window of his ship and bit his lip sharply, swallowing as yet another of their small band was gone.

 

Arutyunyan stood on the bridge, watching and bouncing on the balls of his feet impatiently. The red planet of Yavin IV was still there, still in his way, still stopping him destroying the Rebel Base once and for all, taking out the entire Rebellion and a certain Yuzuru Hanyu who had caused him nothing but problems. Distracted, he didn’t notice one of the other admirals coming up to talk to him until their voice shocked him out of his daydream.

“We’ve analysed their attack pattern sir, and there is a danger. Should I have your ship standing by?”

Arutyunyan looked at him with poorly veiled disgust in his eyes. He turned to the other and looked him up and down as if he was trying to gauge if the other was really serious.

"Evacuate? In our moment of triumph? I think you might be over estimating their chances."

"The Rebel Base will be in range in 3 minutes."

 

"Red boys, this is Red leader. Rendezvous at mark six point one."

"Red two, standing by."

"Red three, standing by."

"Red five, standing by."

"Red six, standing by."

Back on the base, Yuzuru rubbed at his forehead, chewing his lower lip nearly into obliteration. The commander placed a gentle hand on the small of his back to ground him again before he cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Red Leader, this is Base one. Prepare to group up before the next run."

"Got it!" The Red leader's voice crackled through the communicators as the fighters manoeuvred around the Death Star. "Red five, regroup with red two and three. Hold here until I give you the signal to start your run."

"Copy that," Keiji said with a firm nod that only he could see.

The three fighters skimmed the surface of the Death Star as the other two, the Leader and Red six, started their own attack runs, dodging the green lasers from the guns on the towers on the surface of the space station as they made their way through the trench towards the thermal exhaust port.

"Keep your eyes open for those fighters."

"There's too much interference on my scope," Red six muttered, "Base one, Red five, can you see anything?"

"Nothing on our end," the commander turned to those scanning the area at their screens, getting shakes of their heads, "how about on your end Red five?"

"No sign of any-- Wait, three coming in at point three five!"

"I see them," Red six confirmed, looking up through the hatch of his x-wing.

"I'm in range," Red leader powered up his targeting computer as Red six shadowed him and the three Imperial ships "just hold them off for a few more seconds."

Vader, in his own ship, increased the power to close in on the rebel fighters. "Close up formation," he ordered to them.

"Almost there," the Red leader whispered more to himself as the camera closed in on the target. Behind them, the Imperial ships got ever closer.

"You've got to let her loose!" Red six called in desperation.

"Almost there. Just a few more seconds."

"Pull up! I can't hold them! They're right behind me!"

"Just a few more seconds come on!" Red leader called through the communicator, just as the lasers from Vader's ship reduced Red six's ship again to nothing but dust in an explosion that dissipated throughout space.

On the targeting computer, Red leader's arrows hit the point and he released two proton torpedoes before he pulled out of the trench, safely putting more distance between him and the Imperial fighters.

"It's away!" He called the communicator, which echoed around the Base. Everyone held their breaths as they heard a surface explosion which shook the Death Star to its core.

"What happened?" The commander asked, hand still on Yuzuru's back. "Positive precise hit?"

"Negative," Red leader's voice crackled through, "negative. It didn't go in. Just impacted on the surface."

The commander took almost all of Yuzuru's weight as the other turned pale, inhaling sharply. "Go for another round boys. Do what you have to do."

"Red leader, we're right above you! Turn to point 05 we'll cover for you," Keiji glanced behind himself as he spoke, grimacing lightly.

"Stay there!" Red leader responded, "I've just lost my starboard engines. You set up for your attack run Keiji."

Almost like it was planned, as soon as Red Leader finished speaking Vader's lasers caught the back of his ship, taking out his other engine and sending him crashing straight into the Death Star. Keiji gasped to himself as he saw their leader's ship explode in another cloud of dust and sparks.

 

"Rebel Base one minute enclosing."

 

"Your Highness--"

"We stay," Yuzuru cut off the commander sharply. "We have to. We can't leave them--"

"There are now just the three of them Yuzuru--"

"Three of them is enough! I trust them. I trust all of them. If you feel it is right to evacuate, you have the power to call an evacuation, but--"

"At this point the Empire would pursue us across the galaxy." The commander finished grimly. "All hope rides on these three."

"Come on Keiji," Yuzuru whispered to himself, too quiet for the commander or Miki to hear it, "come on."

 

"Alright boys, we're going in full throttle. That ought to keep those fighters off our backs." Keiji swallowed down his nerves as he unofficially took the rank of leader, despite Nathan and Biggs having earlier calling signals than him.

"Right with you Keiji!" Nathan manoeuvred his ship to flank Keiji's as the pair approached the trench.

"Keiji," Biggs spoke up, "at that speed, will you be able to pull out in time?"

"It'll be just like Beggar's Canyon back home," Keiji reassured him almost with a laugh as the three ships followed each other, starting their attack run.

They dodged the lasers coming at them as they soon fell into a formation.

"I'll drop back far enough to cover you," Biggs, red three, confirmed as Nathan spoke up.

"My scope shows the tower but not the thermal exhaust port. Are you sure we'll be able to hit it?"

"Watch yourself! Three speed, full throttle!" Keiji responded as his ship shook slightly with the speed.

"What about the tower?" Nathan countered.

"You worry about those fighters and I'll worry about the tower!"

Both pilots dodged the lasers coming at them, ducking and diving slightly with Biggs covering them.

"Sho 2! That stabiliser has broken loose again, see if you can lock it down!"

Sho 2 beeped an affirmative response as the fighters came in from above. Nathan ducked and weaved as the lasers from one of them just caught the end of his tail lights, not causing too much damage luckily.

"I'm hit but not bad!"

"Get clear of them Nathan! You can't do any good back there," Keiji dared to take a look behind him and grimaced at the trio of Imperial fighters.

"We don't have time for this Keiji!" Biggs pointed out, adding to his already mounting nerves.

"We'll worry about the time," the commander at Base spoke up through their communicators, "you three worry about the Death Star."

As Nathan broke from the rest of the group to give his own droid time to repair the damage, Vader watched him go. "Let him leave. Stay on the leader and focus on taking him out."

"Hurry Keiji they're coming in much faster this time. We can't hold them!" Biggs pointed out as Keiji's heart raced.

"Sho 2, try and increase the power!"

To try and avoid the ships, Keiji weaved more as he flew, taking advantage of the entire width of the trench as much as he could. Behind him, Biggs tried to do the same.

"Hurry up Keiji! They're on my tail!"

Keiji looked back and his heart stopped for a moment as he caught sight of the green lasers from Vader's ship striking the back of Biggs' ship. It exploded, leaving just Keiji and Nathan with the weight of the Rebellion on their shoulders.

 

"No no no no no," Yuzuru rubbed at his forehead again as he looked at the progress of the Death Star towards the base. The commander patted his shoulder lightly, trying to keep him calm. "Come on Keiji. Nathan. Please."

"The Death Star will be in range in thirty seconds."

 

"I'm on the leader," Vader said firmly through his communicator to the other two pilots flanking him. Sho 2 beeped at Keiji as he continued repairing little elements of the ship and tried to increase the power as he asked.

"Hang on Sho 2," Miki mumbled, adding more anxiety to Yuzuru standing next to her, "you don't want my life to get boring, do you?"

Keiji turned on his targeting computer, adjusting the settings as it started to focus in on the exhaust port.

_Use the force, Keiji_ Brian's voice was clear as day; it was as if he was standing right beside Keiji and talking to him. Keiji shook his head to clear it before he looked back through the targeting computer.

_Let go, Keiji!_

Vader watched the pilot in front of him and spoke, almost with a hint of amusement and interest in his voice. "The force is strong with this one."

Keiji leaned back towards the computer when Brian spoke up again. _Keiji, trust me._

That seemed to be enough to persuade Keiji to turn off his computer, and it returned back to the slot it came from. Back at the base, whispers started going around.

"His computer's off," Yuzuru looked up at the man sitting with a headset on, "Keiji, is everything alright? What's wrong? Your computer's off. Has something happened?"

"It's nothing," Keiji's voice came through clear and firm, "I'm alright!"

They turned to Yuzuru and he just shrugged. "Trust him to trust himself. I do."

As Sho 2 increased the power still, Keiji took several deep breaths as he kept on down the trench, followed by the three Imperial ships that were not too far behind him. Vader took a shot at him that caught Sho 2 and elicited a little shriek and scream as sparks flew from the droid and he powered off.

"I've lost Sho 2!" He reported, and Yuzuru and Miki exchanged a look. Yuzuru's face fell and he went nearly completely white as he looked at the approach of the Death Star.

"The Death Star is clear of the planet. The Death Star is clear of the planet."

"We're in range," the commander patted Yuzuru's back again lightly, trying not to aggravate the injection sites from the interrogation droid, and he swallowed sarply, "come on boys, come on."

 

"The Rebel Base is in range."

Arutyunyan smirked to himself before he turned to the admiral beside him, the one who had even suggested that he should evacuate. "You may fire when ready," he ordered, almost lazily.

"Commence primary ignition."

Keiji, unaware of how close the space station was to destroying the Rebel Base, kept weaving along the trench as he tried to avoid Vader's blasters. The other focused on the small targeting computer before him, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

It never came.

The ship to Vader's right blew up when it was hit with red lasers, and the one to his left was knocked so severely by the blast that it sent Vader's ship spiraling out of control, away from Keiji.

"Yeah!" Javier called through his headset that connected to the Rebel Base's and Keiji's, "that's what I'm talking about! You're all clear kid, now let's blow this thing and go home!"

Nathan's ship joined next to Javier's as Keiji took a deep breath and fired his proton torpedoes. Both went cleanly into the exhaust port, and Keiji almost sagged with relief before he turned tail to follow the other two, getting out of there.

"Five," one of the officers on the Death Star started counting, "four, three, two, one."

A smirk spread over Arutyunyan's face. Then the Death Star exploded into yet more dust and sparks.

"Great shot kid, that was one in a million!" Javier complimented through his communicator with Sergei beside him in the Falcon. Keiji sat back in his seat, trying to catch his breath, when Brian spoke up once more.

_Remember, the Force will be with you. Always._

 

Keiji landed back in the hanger on the moon of Yavin, and was immediately greeted by most of the ground staff running over to applaud him as he opened up the hatch of his ship. Unable to hide his smile, he climbed down to receive numerous "thank you!"s and pats to the back.

"Keiji!"

"Yuzu!"

Keiji swept the other up into his arms as Yuzuru started laughing letting out all the tension that had been building throughout the attack run. They broke the hug when Keiji held Yuzuru's waist and started laughing too.

"Hey!" Both of them looked away from each other, only for their smiles to grow when they spotted Javier running through the hanger towards them. Keiji hugged the other with a laugh, slapping his shoulder lightly.

"I just knew you'd come back! I knew it!"

"Yeah, well, I wasn't going to let you take all the credit and get all the reward."

"Hey," Yuzuru laughed, sliding in between the pair of them to hug Javier too, "I knew there was more to you than money."

Javier looped his arm around Yuzuru's waist as Keiji did the same before their smiles all died. "Oh no," Keiji whispered, looking at Sho 2 that they had just removed from his ship. The poor droid was in a right state; his metal coating was cracked and all across the front he was charred.

"Sho 2! Can you hear me?" Miki asked. "Say something! You can repair him, can't you?"

"We'll get to work on him right away," the mechanics promised, taking Sho 2 between two of them.

"You must repair him! If any of my circuits or gears will help, I will gladly donate them."

"He'll be alright," Keiji reassured Miki as Yuzuru and Javier all but dragged him away to regroup with and congratulate Nathan too on the other side of the hanger.

* * *

Yuzuru estimated that they had about an hour before the Imperial troops spread across the galaxy caught up to them on Yavin IV's moon, which gave them more than enough time for a memorial and celebratory ceremony. Keiji, in a bright yellow jacket and a black shirt and trousers, along side Javier in his traditional open white shirt, black jacket, and dark blue trousers, and Sergei walked down the centre of the remaining Rebel troops to the front where Yuzuru and the Commander were waiting. Dressed in a traditional white Alderaan kimono with a silver belt and silver accents, Yuzuru smiled at the trio as they made their way down the centre. The three bowed their heads to him as he took the medal offered to him by the commander and placed it around Sergei's neck. The next medal he took, he placed carefully around Javier's neck and, when he straightened up, the pilot gave him a little wink that the prince couldn't help but chuckle at. Finally, Yuzuru took the last medal and placed it around Keiji's neck, adjusting the edges of the ribbon. The three turned to Miki and Sho 2, who was a bright and shiny white and working again, before they turned to face the other officers and rebels. They applauded the trio before Yuzuru cleared his throat.

"A moment of silence, please," he asked, with pain clear in his voice, "for the pilots who gave their lives, for those who died to give us the Death Star plans, a-and... And for..."

"For Alderaan," the commander cut in, wrapping an arm around Yuzuru's waist to offer him comfort. "A moment of silence for all of them, please."

The entire legion bowed their heads, offering silent thanks to everyone who they lost, when they were interrupted by Sho 2 beeping wildly.

"What is it?" Yuzuru asked with a light frown, looking at Miki.

"He says that a 10,000,000 credit bounty has been placed upon your head, Your Highness. By the Empire."

Yuzuru grimaced and the commander took over, clearing his throat sharply. "We'd better start the evacuation, and we need to find a safe place to set up our new base. We'll clear the planet first, and then any fighters can start looking for a system. Everyone, to your transports."


End file.
